101 Things To Love About You
by SilentSpeaker13
Summary: Y/YY! A set of 101 short stories/drabbles, ranging from about half a page to several pages...all romance, some happy some sad...a 101 themes kinda deal, and yeah, there's Yuugi/Yami or Yuugi/Atemu themes in every one!
1. Language

**Hey peeps! I'm gonna make this brief cause it's late here and I'm mad tired! (and I have class in 6 hrs!) Thank you first of all to everyone reading this and who has been reading my stories! (my thank you's for all your reviews and faves are on their way!) Also, read my profile if you want the long-winded explanation/update.**

**Yay! First prompt! (see end for translations!) P.S. if I owned Yu Gi Oh I wouldn't be in college!...and I am! :(**

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><p>1. Language<p>

"Sahab el-kheir."

"Ohayou gozaimasu."

Yuugi felt a vague heat rise to his face that he prayed didn't show, or at least wasn't evident to the grinning Egyptian passing him by. Working for an international firm had its perks, getting to meet handsome foreign men certainly qualified in his book anyway, but there were also some rather unfortunate downsides.

Like meeting handsome foreign men who turn your legs to jelly and not being able to have one damn conversation with them.

They could communicate...sort of. Through emphasis, gestures, and body language they'd formed a sort of language that, while rough and rustic, managed to let them greet each other or ask the other to step aside so that fax machine could be used; but that was about it.

And that really wasn't the sort of conversation he wanted to have with the veritable sex-god haunting their office.

The worst, and best, part was how close they had to be in order to 'talk' to one another. Their faces would fix on the other's to read the messages there, hands would touch arms and shoulders to 'say' something; Atemu had guided him out of the way more than once, and Atemu had a way of invading Yuugi's Japanese sense of personal space with how close he would lean in to speak Arabic words Yuugi had no hope of understanding. Not that he was complaining really.

But for the life of him he wished he could figure out if all of it was flirting or not. Was it customary for Egyptian men to be so intimate? Was it really necessary to touch each other when speaking? The wanting to assume, but not knowing, thing was quickly driving him insane. It was enough to make him want to pull out handfuls of hair in frustration.

"Afwan...habiibi," a silky smooth voice, like velvet and chocolate, was speaking quietly into Yuugi's ear. A warm hand with nimble fingers came to rest on his bicep, pushing ever so slightly so that Yuugi stepped to the side and let the man have access to the copier machine he had been blocking while in reverie.

Yuugi blushed and stepped to the right, but the hand remained on his arm, preventing him from moving much further away from the Egyptian, and he did not attempt to increase the distance. They were standing nearly hip to hip and Atemu was giving him that warm, lazy smile he'd seen so many times before with half-lidded eyes.

"Shukran, habiibi," something was flickering in Atemu's red-violet eyes.

'Shukran'...Yuugi knew that word by now, 'thank you', but the other...hadn't he just used it a moment ago too?

"Dou itashi mashite Atemu-san." Yuugi knew Atemu understood him; this much, and frustratingly not much more, they could verbally communicate.

"-san, Yuugi," Atemu said it with shake of his head between something like 'no' and simply laughing at Yuugi's formalities.

"Atemu-kun," he corrected with what might have been the faintest dusting of pink on his cheeks. He wasn't sure if Atemu had heard the honorific before, but he hoped he'd understand the intent at least.

Atemu must have had at least some idea because his face split into a small grin of thanks.

"Habiibi." There was that word again. Yuugi frowned bemusedly, Atemu chuckled lightly at his confusion.

Yuugi was in the midst of trying to determine a way to figure out, or question Atemu, as to the word's meaning when an impertinent beeping noise interrupted them. The copier machine had finished its duties and was signaling such with impatience. Yuugi frowned at the machine; when had Atemu even started the task? Had he been so wrapped up in gazing at the other man he hadn't even noticed? Oh, he was a goner for sure.

Atemu's hand dropped away and Yuugi forced himself not to whine at the loss of contact.

"Salam, habiibi," The departing word was bright and silky. Yuugi had to wonder if Atemu's seductive voice was a learned trait or an inherent one.

"Oh, uh, mata atode aimashou."

Atemu sent his flustered co-worker one last grin before disappearing from the small room. Yuugi sighed and, forgetting why on earth he had come here in the first place, left the room to return to his desk cubicle. A lone memo laid in his wake, utterly out of its former owner's mind.

He plopped back in his seat and idly turned in half-circles on the rotating chair before stopping and, determinedly, pulling open a desk drawer to pull out a new book, which was promptly slapped onto the surface of the desk.

It was an Arabic-Japanese dictionary he had bought five weeks ago, one week and two days after Atemu had first arrived in their office. So far it had been hardly useful. He heard the words of greeting and simple things like 'thanks' and 'excuse me' often enough that they could be figured out without the help of the dictionary, and anything more complicated failed to stick in his mind long enough for him to look it up. Such attempts to do so had ended up with him staring at the pages of the dictionary trying to figure out if Atemu had said 'bank', 'home', 'girl', 'police', 'pink', or 'stop'...or something else entirely.

'Habiibi'. That word though, that word was sticking in his brain quite nicely. Maybe because Atemu had repeated it so many times just now...or maybe it was something in the way he said it.

Yuugi flipped to the appropriate section and scanned down the columns to find the right word. With a smile of triumph he finally located it and read the definition. Then he reread it. Then his ran his finger down the page three times to make sure he had gotten the right line.

He blushed as he read the word's definition over and over.

**Habiibi**_- (n.) def.: koibito_

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><p>Translations: Sahab el-kheirOhayou gozaimasu: good morning/good day (same more or less) first one's in Arabic, second's in Japanese

Afwan: "Excuse me" (note: can also be used as 'thank you')

Shukran: "Thanks"

Dou itashi mashite: "You're welcome"

Salam: word of departure, like 'bye', 'see you later' etc (pretty sure it's more like a 'see you later')

Mata atode aimashou: 'See you later'

Koibito: beloved (term of endearment used to refer to a sweetheart, assumes a _very_ close relationship...Atemus's totally overstepping some bounds :P)

Also, I totally got these offline so I apologize if I butchered the Arabic or Japanese language


	2. Breaking The Rules

**Yay drabble time..short and sweet...I love you guys for reading, I love you guys for reviewing, I love you guy for faving...thank you each and every one of you! **

**I don't own Yu Gi Oh!...it's very late here...**

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><p>2. Breaking the Rules<p>

"I can't."

"Sure, you can. Come on."

Yuugi bit his lip and stared down at the hand still being offered out to him. How had this happened again? How had it gone from walking back from the bathroom to class only to be stopped by Atemu Yami, resident reticent badass, and being prodded into cutting class? Did Atemu even know who he was?

"Come on." The hand was thrust forward a little. Atemu didn't sound irritated, but slightly impatient, as if he already knew the outcome and was just waiting for Yuugi to realize it as well.

He couldn't. He just couldn't.

All Yuugi could think of was his Jii-chan, and how disappointed he would be when the school called home, the schoolwork he would miss, the punishment from teachers...he didn't like to upset people. He didn't have it in him to break the rules. Yuugi opened his mouth to tell the other, bolder, more popular, boy this.

Then he made the deadly mistake of looking into Atemu's eyes.

The words died on his tongue. Some part of his brain couldn't help but think this was how snakes trapped mice right before they swallowed them whole.

His hand moved of its own volition. Atemu's hand, warm and strong, closed around his, 'no, Yuugi, no last minute change of heart here, you're coming with me'.

Atemu's face turned into a heartfelt smile, but those eyes of his were still turning Yuugi's brain to cafeteria-grade mush. He pulled Yuugi toward him.

"Come on, let's get out of here." His whispered words in his ear nearly made Yuugi's knees cave.

Yuugi could only nod as he was swiftly dragged toward the exit doors. A last bell of alarm rang in his mind, he nearly opened his mouth to protest once again.

Then Atemu looked back at him with those eyes, with that smile.

The door swung open with a bang, sunlight touched their faces.

Well, Yuugi thought, maybe it wouldn't kill him to break the rules just this once...

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><p><strong>Thanks again for reading guys! I love reviews too! :)<strong>


	3. ID

**Short and sweet: 3rd one of this evening! Love ya guys! Thank you so much for reading and extra thanks for reviews etc!**

**I don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

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><p>3. ID<p>

"Not a word."

"I didn't say anything, aibou." But he _was _quite obviously trying not to laugh.

"Yami..." The word was a warning growl.

The other held his hands up in submissive apology, but failed to wipe the smirk from his face. "I'm sorry aibou, really," he added when Yuugi failed to smile back, arms crossed. "It's nothing to be ashamed of aibou."

Yuugi grunted dismissively, but walked into his lover's open arms nonetheless.

"It's just...I know I look younger than I am, but seriously! I'm twenty-five, is it really necessary to have my ID checked by a bartender _and_ a manager?"

Yami was very thankful that his head was buried into his lover's neck; otherwise the laughter he was trying to control might have landed him on the couch instead of in his warm bed with his wonderful, warm, kind, funny, adorable, sexy...and very youthful looking..._aibou_.

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><p><strong>Thanks again!<strong>


	4. Closet

**AN: Don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

**To the two reviewers so far that I can't p.m.:**

**Naomi: Thanks :)**

**Sweet Dreams: Thanks also :) (for both reviews) lol and thanks for the Language review, that one is actually one of the ones I've written for these for far that I like the most (this is another one right here)**

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><p>4. Closet<p>

In those three words Yuugi's face had gone from placidity to stone. Atemu could only watch as Yuugi's entire body went rigid; he visibly shrugged off the older man's presence.

"No," Yuugi shook his head; he looked pissed.

No? Really? What the hell was that supposed to mean, in response to 'I love you'?

But really he knew what Yuugi meant. He was just in denial.

Atemu's lips pulled back, ready to snarl.

It wasn't like it was the first time he'd said it to Yuugi.

...It was just the first time he'd said it not during or in the afterglow of sex.

If anything, the look on Atemu's face only seemed to make Yuugi angrier; he wasn't going to back down from this fight. Whoever thought that Yuugi's personality was that of the innocent little kitten image he presented to the world was truly an idiot.

It wasn't like he'd planned on saying it, the words had just spoken themselves. Yuugi was supposed to be happy, be grateful.

Instead he looked quite ready to shove Atemu out of the way and leave his apartment for good.

"Look, if you want to say it during _sex_, Atemu, _fine,_" Yuugi's fists were clenched in his rage, "But I _am not_ doing this with you." The younger, smaller man crossed his arms across his chest. "If you want to have just fun that's fine,whatever, but I am not going to be a part of your fucked up bullshit just because it suits your goddamn whims."

Atemu flinched. Curses were a rarity with Yuugi.

And hadn't this been like the speech he'd fed Yuugi and so many others when this whole 'thing' they had had started? Hadn't he warned Yuugi not to get too attached because, as he'd said countless times before, he was 'only interested in having a good time and not interested in a relationship or making a political statement'? Hadn't those been his words, his warning, to Yuugi, the one who had appeared so sweet and innocent he'd imagined the boy would be falling in love with him by the end of week one?

He'd never thought it would be himself here instead.

"What if I want more than that?" he demanded right back; it was a challenge.

Yuugi wasn't buying it. He barked harshly, bitterly, nothing like his true melodic laughter.

"You can't love someone and be ashamed of them Atemu," he hissed. "It doesn't work that way."

"I'm not ashamed!" An angry red was flushing his face.

"No? So it's fine if everyone thinks you're the office slut, but no, heaven forbid, it would be the end of the world if someone found out you fuck men!" Sarcasm dripped from his loud words.

A terse silence fell. They were matched, glare for glare.

It was Yuugi who broke first.

He shook his head and looked away. He laughed again; still bitterly, but this time with underlying forlornness.

"I'm going Atemu."

_'and I'm not going to come back'_ Atemu heard the unspoken message all too well.

"Yuugi," he grabbed the other's arm as he passed; Yuugi shook it off roughly, but stopped for a moment to look up into Atemu's eyes. And what Atemu saw there made his stomach curdle with loathing for Yuugi and for himself.

Pity. No anger anymore, no sadness for his own self, just pity. Pity for Atemu.

"If you want to stay in the closet Atemu, that's fine. I won't try to change your mind, I know you have your reasons." The _actual_ understanding Atemu saw in those bright violet eyes made him want to vomit. "But I'm okay with who I am, with what I am, and I'm not going to let anyone else make me feel remorse for that. Not even you Atemu."

So quiet, so heartfelt.

The sound of the door closing behind his now ex-...lover? fuck buddy? friend?...was the only thing that shook Atemu from his stupor. He slunk over to the coach and sat down and buried his face into his hands, running his fingers through his hair.

He'd warned Yuugi not to get too attached, maybe he should have warned himself.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! (And I'd love a review too please!)<strong>


	5. Breathe

**AN: a few shorties today since they're, well, short. I don't own Yu Gi Oh!, it's a well established fact.**

**This is for the ppl I can't send direct thanks to b/c it wasn't through a profile available review:**

**sweetdreams: Thank you for the reviews! "Language" was actually originally an idea for a multi-chap, so who knows ;)**

**naomi: Thank you for the review! Lol yeah, I'm very, uh 'youthful' looking, it inspired that little drabble...**

**BTW: I haven't finished this whole 101 set yet, but I'm posting ones that I've already finished and am satisfied with first, some are done but might be revised.**

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><p>5. Breathe<p>

"I want to be with you."

"Aibou..."

Yuugi held a finger to other self's lips and shook his head, preemptively dismissing the protest.

"I want to be with you."

Yuugi was looking at him straight in the eye with a firm and determined gaze. His shoulders were set and his mouth was a tight line. The Nameless Pharaoh had seen this look before. Yuugi wasn't going to back down, not without a fight.

"Aibou..." They couldn't really do this, could they?

"I want to be with you," Yuugi spoke gently this time, his face softened and his eyes closed. He leaned forward.

The Pharaoh's eyes closed in automatic response. Yuugi's lips touched his own.

If the Pharaoh had any breath to draw he would have forgotten how to breathe.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I love reviews too :) but mostly thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!<strong>


	6. Marked

**AN: Don't own Yu Gi Oh! Thanks for reading!**

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><p>6. Marked<p>

Jounouchi gaped.

Honda choked.

Anzu stuttered.

Yuugi blushed.

Well how was he supposed to know that a spirit could give you a hickey?

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! (super super short I know!) I hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	7. Mirror

**AN: Don't own Yu Gi Oh, nuff said. Thanks for reading! I love reviews!**

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><p>7. Mirror<p>

Yuugi was staring in front a him, running a hand through his blond bangs and watching as the boy opposite him did the same.

"I don't get it."

The semi-opaque image of a certain pharaoh turned from where he had been scrutinizing a deck of cards spread across Yuugi's desk. In an oddly human fashion the spirit walked across the room to stand behind his host, clasping a hand on his shoulder when he stopped.

The spirit quirked his head to the side, a rare smile gracing his sharp features.

"What is it aibou?" he queried as the other regarded himself in the reflecting glass.

"Mou hitori no boku..." he replied in acknowledgment, "I don't get how anyone could think we're the same person!" He gestured at the mirror with his free hand in a wild wave.

Stepping closer, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle bent to wrap unsubstantial arms around the boy's waist. He dropped his chin to the boy's shoulder, placing his half-visible head down to look into the reflection as well. In the mirror Yuugi stood alone, though he held himself as if in regard for another's close proximity.

"I don't know aibou," he said softly with a shake of his head; the boy seemed very slightly flustered at the intimate, if ghostly, contact.

He spoke his next words in a whisper and gave a breathy chuckle at the resulting surprised grunt and blush he evoked in his other half.

"When I look at you, I can't see anyone else."

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><p><strong>Thanks again for reading!<strong>


	8. Are You Challenging Me?

**AN: Hey, it's me again...with another Yu Gi Oh! one shot, whose characters etc I don't own, I just do this for funsies...**

**So now it's come to the mandatory AU...well one of them anyway ;) Thanks for the reviews and faves and alerts guys! Seriously, they mean a lot to me, and frankly, without them I have no idea if ppl are getting anything out of this or reading it and thinking "eh" at best or "wow, major suckage" at worst.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>8. Are You Challenging Me?<p>

"What's this?"

Without a moment to react the magazine in hand was rudely yanked from Yuugi's grip and held dangling above his head between two pinched fingers.

"Give that back!"

Yuugi made an angry swipe at the captive magazine, only to miss as its captor jumped back with a laugh. An irritated red flushed his cheeks.

"You have to catch me first!"

"Yami!"

Yuugi jumped up and over the back of the couch, nearly upending the coffee table and glass of soda resting there in the process. With a flustered curse he righted himself on the other side, quickly chasing after the boy who had already disappeared from sight.

_His father is on foreign business_, Grandpa had said. _Just a few months,_ Grandpa had said. _He needs someplace to stay_, Grandpa had said. _He's just about your age_, Grandpa had said.

The next time his grandfather let a friend's son stay with them he was moving out.

The sound of laughter led Yuugi around the house twice until he finally caught up with the laughing sixteen-year-old still clutching his stolen magazine in his hand.

"Yami give me that back!"

Yami whipped his face back to grin, only to speed up and dart off into a room down the hall.

"Oh no you don't!"

Yuugi sped up as well and, following the same path as Yami, ran into his own bedroom, and nearly Yami in the process. He skidded to a stop just in time to keep from plowing into the proverbial Cheshire cat.

"I win!" the magazine-stealer cried happily.

"How can you win? We weren't playing anything! And who said my room was home base anyway?" Yuugi ignored the hypocrisy of his own words, face now flushed for a myriad of reasons.

Yami gave a hearty belly-laugh and Yuugi's insides twisted. Yami seemed to get no greater satisfaction than from getting Yuugi flustered and up-in-arms.

"You agreed to play when you chased after me. And your room is always home base, Yuugi," he teased. "Now, what should I take for my prize?"

Yuugi shook out any thought of the possible innuendos of their 'home base' and frowned. Yami's games were not only impromptu, but usually governed by a set of rules that he never shared until after the game was over. What was even more infuriating was that they, both the games and rules, still somehow managed to seem fair.

"Fine," Yuugi groused. "I'll do your chores next week Yami. Now can I have it back?" He held out his hand expectantly.

To Yuugi's great irritation Yami shook his head. "No, no, Yuugi, I'm the winner, I get to choose my prize. Now what should I take? Hmm..."

Yami tapped his chin in mock thought, hip jutted to the side. "Oh I know!"

Yuugi rolled his eyes at the childish antics, but nonetheless, asked, "What?"

"This."

Before Yuugi could ask what 'this' was, Yami wrapped his hand around Yuugi's outstretched one and pulled Yuugi towards him. Yami's lips quickly descended on Yuugi's, silencing the exclamation forming in Yuugi's mouth. Instead of issuing a protest,Yuugi's mouth landed on Yami's with a muffled, "Mmmph!" as Yami's free hand wrapped itself around Yuugi's back. All Yuugi could do was stare with open-eyed shock at Yami's very close face and eyes screwed shut.

Yami's lips were pressing somewhat forcefully against Yuugi's, undemanding and just a hair less than chaste. Then, just as the shock began to wear off and Yuugi had almost relaxed into the kiss, Yami suddenly released Yuugi and stepped back.

Yuugi brought his fingers up to touch where the pressure of Yami's lips had just left. He stared at Yami in a stupor, too dazed to even laugh at the novel sheepish smile and faint blush being worn by the normally arrogant teenager. Without another word, and a look that seemed to indicate he was feeling a little, too, proud of himself, Yami scampered off from Yuugi's sanctuary and downstairs, quite possibly returning to the game store below that he was supposed to be looking after.

Still a little stunned, Yuugi found his bed and fell back on it, barely registering the sound of rustling paper as he replayed the last few minutes in his mind's eye. After his brain nearly short-circuited Yuugi gave up on the venture and turned his head to see the magazine that had been dropped on his bed.

He picked up the seemingly innocent instigator and stared at it's now slightly rumpled appearance. Its pages bore the tell-tale marks of moisture from where Yami had clutched it in a sweaty hand.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	9. Torridity

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh...if I did the show would have gone a lot more like the story below and there would have been a lot less card games. **

**I hope you enjoy! And I really appreciate all the fave/reviews/alerts guys! It really lets me know that ppl actually like this enough to keep reading :)**

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><p>9. Torridity<p>

It was hot.

Not just hot; it was disgustingly, sweat-dripping, egg-frying, bone-melting, rip-the-skin-off-your-back-when-you-get-off-the-couch hot.

So it stood to reason that it was much too hot for leather pants.

Not that Yami was complaining.

"Aibou," the spirit cleared his throat and spoke cautiously, as though his words might shatter Yuugi's world, "you're not wearing pants."

Yuugi, lying back on his bed clad only in a tank top and his boxer shorts, oscillating fan set on high and close to his body, lazily shook his head. "No, it's way too hot for pants today, mou hitori no boku." His voice vibrated against fan's blades as he replied with closed eyes.

"Oh."

A moment of silence passed, punctuated only by the whirling of the fan as it churned out air.

Finally Yami cleared his throat again, though his voice still came out much higher than he would have liked.

"Aibou?"

"Mmm?"

"How much longer do you think this heat wave will last?"

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!~ Heehee, I'm a sucker for innocent-pervy Yami <strong>


	10. Basement

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh, and although I might like to, I make no money doing this...if I did I'd have a lot more time to write this stuff :P**

**As always, thanks guys for all the reviews/faves/alerts cause it lets me know whatch're thinking :)**

**Oh no, angsty puzzleshipping is angsty!**

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><p>10. Basement<p>

Yuugi stood at the top of the stairs, looking down into the bleak darkness below.

He hated the basement.

He had hated the basement since he was a child and accidentally locked himself in the dark dungeon. He had cried alone for nearly two hours before his mother had finally found him.

For a brief time in his life it had not bothered him.

But that was back when he had _him_.

Back when he had _him_ anything was possible.

Now all of his memories of their time together were stored in boxes below the floors of the house.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Yuugi stood at the top of the stairs and put a hand on the railing. This time, he could do it. This time he would finally go down and confront _him_.

But his hand started to shake and his breathing became harsh and erratic. Memories of _his _face, _his_ laugh, _his _smile were flooding his brain.

Yuugi let go of the railing and stepped back from the doorway, just in time to stop the gathering tears from falling.

Someday he would have to go back down into the basement, back down to face _him_ and his loss.

But not today, he just couldn't.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	11. Humility

**AN: Shocker, I don't own Yu Gi Oh, if I did I'd make fangirls, and boys, scream with delirious joy at the things my warped imagination created...oh yeah, and I'd make money off of this too and give up my crappier job :P**

**Thanks for reading guys, since this is the last chap for the night we'll end it on a happier note. To anyone who's read any of the "I Will..." stories there's a new one coming out very soon fyi (and I really appreciate all the reviews/faves/alerts! you guys are wonderful!)**

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><p>11. Humility<p>

"I don't understand why I have to do this aibou." The former pharaoh's arms were crossed; he looked wholly unconvinced as to the necessity of Yuugi's request.

"Because, mou hitori no boku," the ephemeral form of the youngest Motou replied, "a little humility a good thing. This will be good for you."

Yuugi's calm tone did little to appease the spirit embodied in physical form.

"When I was Pharaoh I had no use for it," he grumbled.

"Yes," Yuugi chose his next words carefully, "But since we share a body now and most people think we're the same person I would really appreciate it if you would try."

When the former pharaoh still seemed reluctant Yuugi added, "Please, mou hitori no boku? For me?" With the last touch, looking up into his other half's eyes with his own wide ones, he knew he had 'Pharaoh' wrapped around his little finger.

Indeed the regal posture slumped and the man heaved a slightly broken sigh, utterly helpless in the face of his 'aibou''s methodology.

"Alright, aibou," he said with a small smile at the transparent young man, "I will do it if it means that much to you."

Tense and with gritted teeth Yami no Yuugi took the phone in hand a dialed a number with more force than necessary; he held it up to his ear with clenched fingers, looking for all the world as though it were burning off more of his flesh with each passing second. Finally someone must have picked up because the embodied spirit began to speak.

"Hello, Bakura...-kun?...It's Yuugi, mou hitori no Yuugi. There was an...altercation last week between you, the other Bakura, and myself. I know you were hurt during it. I...I wanted...to...say...I'm s-s-sorry. Goodbye."

No sooner had the once pharaoh actually managed to get the words out than he had ended the call and dropped the phone, breathing as harshly as if he had just run a race.

"Thank you for doing that for me, mou hitori no boku." Yuugi was beaming with pride. "Now, was that really so bad?"

'Pharaoh' said nothing, chest still heaving and glaring down at the evil device. But boy oh boy was it a good thing his 'aibou' was cute.

Across town Bakura Ryou stared at his phone incredulously, wondering what the hell had just happened.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! (I apologize for the randomness)<strong>


	12. Memory

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh and don't make money with this. Short and er-not sweet story. Enjoy!**

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><p>12. Memory<p>

"Yuugi."

Yuugi looked up with mild surprise; it was rare to hear his birth name from his other self.

"Yes, mou hitori no boku?"

The spirit was looking out Yuugi's bedroom window, avoiding his eyes.

"Does...the name Heba mean anything to you?"

For a moment Yuugi frowned down in concentration, oblivious to the intensity with which the spirit's gaze now bore into him.

"No, I can't say it does," he said with a shake of his head. "Why?"

The spirit made a noise that might have been a sigh.

"Ah, it was nothing, aibou." He paused over the last word, and fixed Yuugi with a smile that never reached his eyes.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	13. Childhood

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh and make no money, :P I really liked the idea I had but idk how i feel about this one now...oh well. I hope you enjoy it! (By the way, the stupidity of the insults here is intentional)**

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><p>13. Childhood<p>

When Yami Atemu Sennen was seven he was sure he met his soul-mate.

It had begun with a trip to the park. He had quickly disappeared from his mother's sight, just as soon as she had set him loose to wreak havoc on the park as seven-year-old boys are wont to do. And it had been almost as soon as he had set foot on the sandy surface of the playground to commence his reign of terror that his attention had been directed to a group of three boys by the far edge of his new kingdom.

Two of the boys were standing over another, pushing and kicking sand at him while they called him names.

"Baby!"

"Wuss! Get off our playground you big sissy!"

The boy on the ground must have been smaller than the other two boys, though neither of them could have been bigger than Yami himself. And, upon seeing this, Yami frowned. He didn't like it when little kids got bullied, and he didn't like it when little kids let themselves get bullied, because it meant someone had to save them. Yami took it upon himself to be that person.

With two small rocks in hand the small boy threw them, hitting one of the boys in the head and the other in the back.

"Leave him alone!"

"Who's gonna make us?" The two boys had whirled around, and looked ready for a fight.

"I am! And I've got more where that came from," Yami wasn't entirely sure it meant, but he did have more rocks in his hand, and he had seen good guys say it in the movies, so it seemed like that right thing to say.

The boys hesitated for a moment and looked to each other before scowling and turning to leave. "Fine, play with the big baby."

"Yeah, play with the stupid baby, baby-lover!"

Yami growled and the boys scampered off without another word. Once they had run off the sandy patch and onto the grass toward the safety of their own mothers, Yami made his move to the sniffling boy still on the ground. He fell onto his knees and shook the boy's shoulder roughly.

"Hey, you're okay now kid. Come on, get up!" he demanded impatiently. He felt awkward and unsure of just how to comfort the little boy.

The little boy continued to sniffle into curled fists and Yami's frown evaporated.

"Come on, kid, you're okay, really," he said more gently this time. "Come on, look up. You're gonna be okay."

Finally the little boy did look up, and then Yami found himself looking straight into the biggest and prettiest eyes he had ever seen in his seven years.

For reasons unbeknownst to his childish mind Yami blushed and flickered his eyes away. When his gaze landed on a scraped knee, however, he jumped into action again.

"Hey, stay still kid, okay?" Yami pulled at his shirt and wiped the edge of it against the wound, cleaning it of the blood and sand there. When the boy started to cry slightly he bent down to blow on it like his mother always did, even though he felt rather embarrassed and silly doing so.

Righting himself and trying to fight down the heat in his face Yami looked back at the boy, who was now looking back at him with something like wonder in his eyes. "There, you're okay now. I'm Yami," he paused. "I'm seven. What's your name kid?"

"I'm Yuugi," the boy's voice was soft and shy, and much to Yami's dismay he found it very cute. "I'm five."

Yami nodded and a moment of silence passed as they sat across from each other in the sand. Yuugi was staring at Yami unabashedly and it was making the seven-year-old fidgety.

"You can't let them do that," he said finally. "You can't let them beat you like that Yuugi. You have to fight back and stand up for yourself! Okay?"

To his surprise Yuugi shook his head back and forth and very softly replied, "But I don't like to fight."

"You have to Yuugi! You can't just let them hit you like that! Then you'll always get beat up!" Yami's irritation was quickly growing.

Again the boy shook his head with one adorable fist in front of his adorable face.

Yami stood and stomped a foot down angrily. "Why not?" he demanded rather than asked, clenching his fists at his sides.

Yuugi looked up at him with his bright, wide eyes. "Cause I have you to look out for me."

Now Yami's face was as bright as strawberry jam. He was quiet, completely unsure of what to do or say to the boy's honest reply. Luckily for him, the moment quickly passed.

"Yuugi? Yuugi, where are you?" a voice was calling from just past the tree line.

Yuugi scrambled to his feet, apparently unfazed by Yami's silence and unaware of the impact his words had had.

"Coming Jii-chan! I'm right here!" he called back towards the tree. He turned back apologetically to his new friend. "Sorry, Yami, that's Jii-chan. I hafta go."

All Yami could do was nod, mind still a bit dazed from the whirl of events.

Then, shyly, Yuugi approached Yami.

"Thank you for saving me Yami," he said sincerely.

Then, standing up on his tip-toes, he pressed a kiss to Yami's cheek.

"Yuugi!"

The boy broke the contact and tore away, running towards the voice.

"Coming Jii-chan!" he looked over and waved as he left. "Bye Yami!"

It took a minute for Yami to come out of his stupor, cheeks still aflame. "Wait!" he called, but it was too late, Yuugi had already disappeared.

That had been twenty years ago. And yet, when Yami Atemu Sennen went to the park that day and saw a young man with the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his twenty-seven years sitting on a bench, he was not surprised. Nor was he surprised when, after he sat down and the man turned to look at him, that he found his heart beat quicker and a blush rise to his face.

"Yami," he said and stuck out his hand.

"Yuugi," the other man replied with a smile that made Yami thankful he was not standing.

For a moment a tremor of anxiety formed in his mind that the other did not remember him, that his name would not be enough.

Then Yuugi moved his face closer to Yami's and leaned in toward his ear.

"Thank you for saving me," he whispered and turned Yami's head to place the first of many kisses to his lips.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	14. Plus

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh, alas, those two will remain "hetero"sexual life partners since they cannot do my bidding. Anyway, here we go, this has no basis in reality, but since Yuugi seems to lack the lady-killer abilities, well, you'll see. Hope you enjoy!**

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><p>14. +<p>

+1

The little script was staring back at Yuugi mockingly, daring him to put his pen to paper.

How could two little symbols be so damn intimidating?

All he had to do was either muster up the courage to call Atemu and ask him, or go to Anzu's wedding alone feeling like the biggest wuss on the entire planet. That's all.

Yeah. Right. That's all.

He drew in a deep breath and held it. He could always ask Jounouchi to set him up with someone for the evening, Jounouchi's girlfriend Mai was certain to have a friend willing to tag along for the night.

He let out his breath heavily and dismissed the idea almost as soon as he'd formed it. No, he wouldn't do that. It would be pointless. At the very best he'd end up ignoring the girl the whole night because all he would be able to think about was the one person he really wanted to be there with.

He drew in another deep breath. He could do this. It wasn't such a big step in a relationship, right? They'd been seeing each other for two months, that was enough time, wasn't it?

Oh God, was it enough time? He bit his lip. He had no friggin' clue. Fuck.

Before he had chance to change his mind he picked up his cell phone and dialed Atemu's number rapid fire, closing his eyes as it connected and rang, almost praying that Atemu wouldn't pick up.

"Hello, Yuugi." The voice alone had a sex-appeal powerful enough to make Yuugi feel faint even over the staticy feedback of the phone. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

For a moment Yuugi had to remind himself why he'd called in the first place.

Then, suddenly flushing at his coming question and the realization of his silence, he hesitantly began.

"Oh, um, hi Atemu. I uh, was wondering. I um, have this thing this weekend..."

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><p><strong>Sexy Atemu is sexy, flustered Yuugi is adorable. Thanks for reading &amp; hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	15. Unique

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! Apparently all I own is a bunch of very weird thoughts that prompted this story. I apologize for the extreme randomness, though if you've dealt with the pain of writing maybe you can appreciate some of the pain in this story...Hope you enjoy!**

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><p>15. Unique<p>

"No! I won't let you die!"

Jounouchi was on the walkway, heading toward the front door when he heard Atemu's unmistakable voice shout it out through the walls of the house. There was only one person he could be talking about.

_Yuugi!_

Stricken with sudden terror the man bound up the stairs to the front door, flinging it aside and running into the house. He had almost ripped open the door to Atemu's office when Yuugi's slightly startled face looked up at him from the living room sofa as he stood by the office's French doors, one hand on each delicately curved handle.

"Oh, hello Jounouchi," he said pleasantly, reading glasses perched on the end of his nose as he held the newspaper in one hand and a pencil in the other.

Jounouchi grabbed at his chest and slunk against the doors. He slid to the floor in a wave of relief. "God, don't do that to me Yuugi, I nearly had a heart attack!"

Yuugi snorted lightly as he placed his crossword puzzle, pencil, and glasses on the coffee table beside a cup of tea. He rose and chided his friend as he made his way to him. "You're only thirty-six Jounouchi. Maybe it's time to cut back on the trips to Burger World."

"Eh, I'd rather die young and full than old and hungry," Jounouchi, as per usual, had quickly recovered from his shock and accepted the hand his shorter friend held out to him, allowing himself to be helped up.

Yuugi moved to shut the still open front door.

"Yes, but if you die on my floor I'm afraid I'll have to deal with your husband," Yuugi laughed, the first signs of crow's feet crinkling up as he did so.

"But then he'd have to deal with yours, eh?"

Yuugi opened his mouth, but before he could reply a loud crash and bang echoed from just behind them; along an exclamation of, "No, live damn you, live!"

"What the hell is he doing in there? I thought he was working on his next book today." Jounouchi regarded the door behind them with an odd look.

"Oh he is," Yuugi said wryly, glancing at the room where his lover of seventeen years and husband of twelve raged. "He's battling his writer's block at the moment."

"Yuugi, you know I love Atemu, but your husband is goddamn weird."

"Hmm," Yuugi tapped his chin thoughtfully and looked off in contemplation. "I like to think of him as unique."

Jounouchi nodded, caught between smiling and rolling his eyes at the obvious love between two of his closest friends. They stood for a moment in silence. Finally Yuugi broke from his reverie.

"So, would you like something to eat, Jounouchi? I have-"

"-send the damn things to the Shadow Realm," came muttered through the French doors, followed closely by a string of curses.

"...Shadow Realm?" Jounouchi's eyebrow quirked.

All Yuugi could do was shake his head. "Don't ask."

Several hours later, long after Jounouchi had left and returned to his own, impatiently waiting Yuugi was sure, husband in the Kaiba mansion, the other inhabitant of his shared home finally made an appearance.

Yuugi bit his lip in restraint as his husband shuffled into the kitchen like a war-torn zombie and practically fell into the seat at the table, promptly dropping his face onto the cool surface. Laughter fully under control he made his way to his much fatigued husband and began rubbing the older man's back in a soothing circular motion.

"You alright?" he asked.

When he only got a grunt in return he bit his lip again to suppress a giggle.

"Anything get sent to the Shadow Realm?" he queried, which, according to his husband, was the place where all ideas, once they turned sour, were sent to die.

"No," the response was followed by a sigh. "But I hardly got anything done."

"Poor baby," Yuugi cooed. He began to knead his husband's shoulders, earning a contented moan from his lover.

"Mmm, feels good," was Atemu's reply. The eloquence that had helped him pen bestsellers had a way of disappearing under Yuugi's touch, much as his mere presence had done for the first six months they had dated.

"Are you done exorcising your demons?" the younger of the two squeezed his husband's arms, trying to relieve him of the tension there.

"No," came out with another heavy, reluctant sigh.

"Well," Yuugi bent and placed a kiss on the back of Atemu's neck, who rewarded him with a shiver. "I'll be going to bed then, come up when you're done."

No sooner had he released Atemu from his touch than the man's head lifted off the table and he rose from his seat.

"You know?" he said, "I think I'm done exorcising demons for the night."

"Why am I not surprised?" Yuugi gave a hearty laugh and let his suddenly revitalized husband pull him to their bedroom.

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><p><strong>Seriously, I have no idea...Hope you enjoyed? Thanks for reading!<strong>


	16. Confrontation

**AN: Oi, where to start? Umm, honestly I've been putting off putting this one up...idk how I feel about it...def not my best. Yeah, hope it doens't suck too bad. I don't own Yu Gi Oh. Um, enjoy? Thanks for reading as always, and as always all your reviews and appreciated and welcome!**

**Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing so far! Your 'thank you's via PM are coming, I'm just a little backlogged.**

**Also, for anyone interested in knowing I'm actually supposed to writing an English paper right now (d'oh!)**

**Thank you for the review sweet dreams! (since I can't PM you :P)**

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><p>16. Confrontation<p>

"Do I know you?"

The figure at the bar turned and quirked an eyebrow, a lazy smirk grew slowly on his lips.

"That's a bad line, even for a place like this." He gave a wave of a hand at the dingy atmosphere of the third-rate bar; his voice was smooth and controlled, and gave off the impression of being lower than it really was.

The handsome young man before him shook his head, wide eyes narrowed in a focused gaze. "It would be if I was hitting on you, but I mean it. I think I know you from somewhere."

Pale, creamy skin bunched together on the man's forehead as he furrowed his brows in concentration. The man at the bar leaned back slightly to appraise the other man with far less innocent intentions; his smirk expanded into a leer.

"No, I don't think so. I don't think I could forget someone like you," voice ripe with Freudian intonation he let his eyes rove up and down the small frame in a blatantly obvious manner, visually disrobing him of his form-fitting black jacket and tight, dark pants; his eyes lingered at the multiple belts as though he was thinking of every single one of their potential uses.

"Yami," he stuck out his hand in greeting.

The young man shivered but stood his ground; uncrossing his arms over his chest to meet the extended hand with his own. He raised an eyebrow of his in turn. "Now that, is a bad line," he retorted.

"But it's working, judging by that delightful shade of red you're sporting anyway," he replied, his voice husky and low.

The young man's hand twitched like he was fighting himself to keep from pulling it back. "Yuugi," the young man finally answered; voice hesitant.

Yami released the hand and gestured to the empty seat next to him.

"Well then Yuugi, let's get to know each other, since we don't already."

With great reluctance, and a very weary look at the seat, Yuugi sat down cautiously; his body remained entirely too tense.

Yami pretended not to see it. He waved the bartender over so he could quickly subdue his companion's anxieties with a steady stream of alcohol.

He had been following this boy for weeks; he was not about to let this opportunity slip.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed (didn't hate too much) this one!<strong>


	17. Forever

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh...boo!**

**Thanks for reading!**

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><p>17. Forever<p>

"Do you think we'll be together forever mou hitori no boku?"

"Yes, aibou," he replied with a smile.

The Pharaoh's gut twisted. He wished he didn't have to lie.

Yuugi's smile almost faltered. He wished he didn't know it was a lie.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! (Short and sad I know! Sorry!)<strong>


	18. Integration

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh (this is getting old) Sorry, this one is again short (but you get more uploads this way). I hope you enjoy? Thanks for reading and reviews are most welcome! Thanks to everyone reviewing so far! (and reading too!)**

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><p>18. Integration<p>

"If there was a way I could stay here forever, with you aibou, would you want that?"

"Of course, mou hitori no boku."

"Even if it meant we were no longer separated?"

"I don't understand, mou hitori no boku."

"If I could stay, aibou, if I could become integrated with your own soul, so that I would forever be with you, inside of you as I am now, but with us unable to see or talk to each other truly as we do, would you want that aibou? Do you want that?"

"No."

"W-why?"

"Because...I don't want to be you, mou hitori no boku. I want to be with you."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! (Sorry another shortie!)<strong>


	19. Silence

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! Sorry this one is short/sad, but I like it. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading/reviewing/faving/alerting/everything-ing! You guys are awesome!**

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><p>19. Silence<p>

The worst part was the silence. He kept waiting, hoping, to hear a voice, a noise, a cry, anything at all from his dearest partner, but there was nothing. It was the even worse than the worst punishment he could have imagined for his crime.

For thousands upon thousands of years he had resided within the Millennium Puzzle in silence, in darkness. Yuugi had blissfully chased his nightmares of its dreadfully quiet corners away, filling him with light and sound. He had forgotten what the silence was like; the all consuming, forbidding noiselessness that threatened to steal away the last of his sanity.

_Aibou, aibou, aibou..._

He called it like a chant in his mind. It did not even echo in the silence.

There was no other mind for it to bounce off of, nor another's thoughts to catch and cushion it gently.

_I will save you aibou, I promise._

He had to save Yuugi. If he failed to he was certain he would go mad.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	20. Jealous

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! Thanks for reading/reviewing/faving/everything else! You guys are awesome and amazing and I 3 each and every one of you! Here's a happy one! (Warning: you may actually rot your teeth or gag on this one) Enjoy!**

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><p>20. Jealous<p>

A troupe of beautiful enchantresses were twisting and turning their way before Pharaoh's throne; they had taken control over the grand center of the throne room, capturing the attention of all while they moved with the hypnotically entrancing power of a rising snake. The foreigners moved in time with the musicians that had come with them in their journey. Brightly colored scarves and skirts melded into one as the dancers' quick movements sent them flying about like crazed spirits.

Pharaoh watched from his throne with a relaxed smile upon his regal face. His foot tapped subtly in time with the music while his hands clapped lightly together in rhythm. The entertainment was not only a wonderfully pleasant distraction, but a novel one at that; all of it, the dress, the sound, the dance, the exotic appearance of the beauties, were all quite new to the Great King, and his eyes were devouring the scene with relish.

Suddenly the dancers scattered to the sides only to quickly return, each with two short sticks of carved and sanded wood in hand. With deft precision the troupe quickly fell back into their performance as though they had never paused at all. Each dancer whirled about with the sticks in hand, tapping them twice against those of any dancer they met in their flurry of motion. Pharaoh watched with great curiosity as one by one dancers began to fall out of the group, moving to a respectful distance on either side of Pharaoh's throne, bowing against the ground before it.

For the briefest of moments Pharaoh's face screwed in confusion before he let out an abandoned laugh of pure mirth. He clapped his hands together hard once in his joy. So it had become a game!

If nothing else these foreigners certainly knew how to please the pharaoh of Upper and Lower Kehmet. He made a distant and distracted mental note to listen carefully to the wants of this caravan of foreigners; he was most definitely interested in their return to his palace.

So enraptured was Pharaoh in the captivating creatures before him as they fell one by one from the game that he almost missed the figure in the edge of his peripheral vision.

In stark contrast from the brilliant and bright display of whirls and twirls before him this creature only exhibited the barest of movements as he disappeared from the very edge of Pharaoh's court. Though he wished to follow Pharaoh waited patiently as dancers continued to fall from the game, choosing to enjoy the show he was held captive to, until the very last had come to fall prostrate directly in front of his throne. He clapped heartily in appreciation of the masterful performance and his court followed suit. The apparent winner of the game was finally helped to her feet by one of her tribesmen, and brought a bit closer, yet still several feet away, before Pharaoh's throne.

She was undoubtedly beautiful; large, bright eyes stared respectfully to the ground by his feet, a demure and pleasant smile rested on her full lips, her dark hair fell in a thick braid down her back, and her sandy-brown skin stood out wonderfully against the bright hues of blue, red, and gold she was adorned with. Through a rather broken and halted form of his native language the tribesman beside the gorgeous artist, middle-aged and portly with a long, greying beard and mustache, offered the young woman to the Great Pharaoh, if he would so choose to have her.

The Great Pharaoh in question bit his cheek in his effort not to laugh; he had a feeling that his acceptance of the gift would not be so well appreciated by the one who mattered most.

With a kind smile he raised a hand in refusal and spoke so as to not offend.

"Your people may go from this place with my blessing without further tribute. Your dance has been gift enough, if I were to take more I believe I would be in your debt." He paused to turn from surprised tribesman to the dancer.

"While I, Pharaoh, have found much enjoyment in your performance and that of your partners, fair beauty, I believe you would be better suited to your home than to this one. I only ask that your people make sure to visit my home at least once a season, so that I may enjoy your dances throughout the year. Pharaoh has spoken." He watched with some amusement as both dancer and tribesman blushed at his compliments and the tribesman's quick and eager agreement to visit Pharaoh's house as often as the ruler would like and travel would allow.

With a wave of his hand the group was dismissed, and Pharaoh anxiously waited for the musicians, foreign or his own, to once again start up their instruments. Impatience was beginning to fill him and he was forced to restrain himself from demanding that his court carry on with the entertainment in a more timely fashion; although he could unquestionably he would rather not attract more attention to himself than necessary. His goal was to sneak from the throne room, not to surprise his guards and priests into following him about; that would not do at all.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the young ruler, the musicians had once again begun to perform and the attention of his court had once again returned to the excitement at hand as dancers of his own moved in time with the beat of the instruments. Quietly, and with the slyness of a thief, Pharaoh stood from his throne and managed, amazingly enough, to remove himself from the throne room without attracting the eye of one patron or priest.

Deftly he slipped into the hall corridor and let his shoulders relax with a small exhale. For now there were no guards following him, and no priests with them in tow; he could afford to be a man and not a king for the next few moments. Besides, out of view of his priests, any guard could be quickly dismissed; so long as he could avoid his priests, Seto in particular, he was free to do as he pleased in this moment. And he knew exactly what he wanted to do right now.

It was as easy as ever to find him. He almost smirked when he saw the familiar outline cast in shadow by the glow of the shining moon overhead. Despite what the boy seemed to think he was very far from sneaky, and it never took Pharaoh more than a few moments to successfully seek him out. With a definite smirk now curling at his lips Pharaoh moved silently as a spider in his delicate slippers. He paused ever so slightly before moving to wrap his arms around the waist of the young man gazing up to the heavens, and pulled the youth closer against him.

With a strangled cry of shock the boy in his arms whirled around to come bare chest to Pharaoh's clothed one, arms up and body rigid in ready defense. Pharaoh couldn't help but laugh at the way the boy's whole body seemed to sag in relief when he realized just who his 'captor' was, or the pout of a scowl that graced his features in response. It was with some effort that Pharaoh actually forced his laughter down, reminding himself that such actions were hardly going to put him back in the good graces of the young man before him, who he was most certain he was on ill-standing with at the moment.

"You left," he commented with some amusement, pressing gently against the boy's back to bring him closer.

The boy resisted against the affectionate force. "You seemed to be having a good enough time," came the rather short reply.

Pharaoh almost smiled; the lack of formality, the very ability to be at all cross with the great ruler of Upper and Lower Kehmet, it was a wonderful moment of normalcy. He almost smiled, but did not; however trivial the matter that made him so irate he would handle it gracefully.

"Now Love, how could I ever have a good time when you are slinking off to the dark corners of my palace and taking the most beautiful thing within these walls away from my sight?"

The moonlight shone on the boy's cheek a hue of red so dark it stood out even against his tanned skin. Pharaoh removed one arm from the boy's back to stroke the cheek with the back of his hand, pleased when it darkened further.

"She looked beautiful enough to capture all of your attention." The boy twisted, but not enough so as to remove himself from Pharaoh's grasp.

At that Pharaoh chuckled very softly and put his lips very close to the smaller man's ear. "My Love," he whispered, and was rewarded with a shudder and suppressed squeak of a moan in return, "Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?"

Pharaoh could feel the skin against his own heat up. Once again the bundle in his arms shifted, but did not resist as he pressed him close enough so that their bodies nearly folded into one another. Finally the boy spoke, this time with a hint of despondency and self-doubt.

"Well, what should I think when I see you enjoying their company so thoroughly? What am I blessed with that could complete with those who would throw themselves at your feet? I am only a flicker of flame compared to their blazing glory."

Pharaoh gave the boy one firm squeeze within his grasp before stepping back to hold the boy at just short of arm's length, hands firmly clasped on the boy's biceps.

"My Dearest Heba," he moved to lift the boy's chin so their eyes bore into one another. "Never in all of my palace, in all of Upper and Lower Kehmet, in all of the foreign kingdoms in all the lands, could I ever find a beauty that could compare to the one I find within you."

"Atemu..." he trailed off and did nothing to stop Pharaoh's lips from descending on his own in a kiss that spoke even more profoundly than his words.

They stayed joined that way for a long moment, deepening the kiss briefly before separating and resting against one another. For the next few minutes they stood in silence, bathed in the glow of the moon, listening to the distant sound of music and merriment as it echoed from Pharaoh's throne room.

Pharaoh was, unsurprisingly, the first to disrupt the sedate sweetness.

"One of them was offered to me, you know," he teased, his chin dipped into his lover's clavicle.

Without looking Pharaoh could tell the boy was rolling his eyes at the monarch. "I would have been more surprised if they had not," he commented dryly. There was a pause before Heba could apparently no longer resist the temptation. "Which one?"

Atemu nearly laughed. "The one in blue, red, and gold, long braid of hair, almost the size of yourself."

"Atemu," he replied slowly, "That described at least a third of the dancers."

Against his lover's body Pharaoh merely shrugged. "Ah, well, I admit, I paid little attention to what they looked like; I was more interested in their dancing My Heba. They just all melt into one image after a while."

Pharaoh felt Heba's soft chuckle and the shake of his head, and smiled into the skin of his neck. "Oh, Atemu, if only they knew."

Pharaoh replied first not with words, but with a heartfelt press of his lips into Heba's soft neck, momentarily suckling the skin to get the reaction he desired, before saying, "See Dearest? You have absolutely nothing to be jealous over with those women."

This time it was Heba's turn to tease his lover, His Pharaoh. "Hm, so should I worry instead then, over your running off with High Priest Seto?"

Heba nearly guffawed at the choked convulsion his lover made against him.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	21. Advertisement

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! Those of you who haven't received thanks yet via PM they are on their way! (Sorry, school and work are both really really crazy right now!) Hope you enjoy!**

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><p>21. Advertisement<p>

The first thing Yuugi said when he saw it was, "So, _this _is what you've been doing at night."

Out of the corner of his eye the translucent spirit nodded with an "Mmm," of acknowledgment. He didn't have to turn to see the pride he felt radiating off his other half.

"Mou hitori no boku, I appreciate the gesture, really I do, but isn't this a little...excessive?"

"Nonsense, aibou," the spirit came behind him to embrace as deeply as spatial physics would allow. Yuugi shivered under the faint electrical sensation. "I want the whole world to know what you mean to me."

All Yuugi could do was nod and place a hand over where the spirit's would have been as he took in the enormity of Pharaoh's 20'x30' declaration of love.

Technically speaking it was vandalism, but he hoped that any witnesses would choose to think of Pharaoh's 'art project' on the brick as 'beautification' instead of graffiti.

Normally people weren't serious when they said they "wanted the whole world to know,"; Yuugi just hoped that all of Domino City, Japan didn't mind the spirit's rather literal interpretation.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading as always and I still love reviewscomments/etc :) Btw, if you didn't realize, Atemu/Pharaoh/Yami Yuugi basically did a "Yami 3's Yuugi" spray paint equivalent :P**


	22. Keeping a Secret

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! Enjoy and thanks for reading and reviewing!**

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><p>22. Keeping a Secret<p>

_Anzu was so funny. Anzu was just so smart. Anzu was so sweet. Anzu was so beautiful. Anzu was just perfect._

If Yami had to hear one more word about Ms. Anzu-fucking-wonderful he was going to go insane.

Still Yuugi prattled on about his brand new, and so perfectly terrific, girlfriend, completely oblivious to how each line, each happy sigh, and each contented giggle created another blood-oozing fissure in Yami's heart.

While Yuugi grinned and sighed happily, pausing in his love sick ramblings to gaze off to, no doubt, the imaginary image of his perfect girlfriend's perfect body, Yami grit his teeth so hard they might have cracked under the pressure.

"Sorry Yami, I know I'm just going on and on," a happy little giggle, "but I just can't get over how lucky I am." A wide, open-mouthed grin. "I mean, I'm _me_ and Anzu's _Anzu_, she's just perfect!"

_No, Anzu's _Anzu _and you're _YOU_. You're the perfect one, you're the one who deserves the best. You deserve better than her! She can't give you everything! She's not perfect!_

"Really, who ever thought someone like Anzu would ever say yes to going out with me? She's so smart, and funny, and popular!" Another laugh. "Ha, I always thought she'd go out with someone like you!"

_I turned her down last year. __I don't want someone like _her _chasing after me. I want _you. Only _you._

"And it's so weird too Yami. You'll get a kick out of it; when we talk, it's like we've known each other for years! It's like we've known each other as long as you and I have! I mean, it's awesome, but weird, a good weird. Ha, kinda like you and me right?"

He wanted to scream.

_No! No, it's nothing like you and me! She doesn't know you like I do. She doesn't know you at all! She doesn't know your favorite time of day is right before sunset or that you don't have a favorite color. She doesn't know your first goldfish's name was Sunny or how when he died we had a funeral for him over your toilet. She doesn't know how you only like donuts when they're the crappy day-old store brand kind because they remind you of when you were little and that was the only kind your mom ever bought. She doesn't know how you used to stay with me every time your mom and dad and grandpa went out of town and how you'd cry every night and you'd sleep in my bed so you didn't have nightmares._

_She wasn't there when I convinced you to jump off a ledge and we were terrified your ankle was broken because we didn't know the difference between a sprain and a break. She wasn't there for all of the sleep-overs and the really stupid truth-or-dare games we played until the sun came up. She wasn't the one who came to every single one of your birthday parties when no body else did. _

_She wasn't the one who gave you your first kiss when you were twelve because you were afraid no one would ever kiss you. She doesn't know about how, when you were five and I was six, you went around telling all of our parents and their friends that you were going to marry me one day after my aunt told us you married your best friend. She doesn't know about how you poured juice over both of our laps on the first day of school when I got so scared I pissed my pants, just so I wouldn't be alone._

_She's not the one who beat up the bullies for you so you wouldn't have to fight. She didn't promise to stay with you always and forever because your parents never did. She didn't stay with you the whole weekend after you had your appendix taken out, and _she_ wasn't the one you stayed with when their tonsils were taken out. _

_She's doesn't know how you blush every time someone touches the nape of your neck, or how your most ticklish spot is on your third and fourth rib on your right side, or how you fall right asleep if someone scratches your head just right._

_She doesn't know how you'll never leave anyone alone. She doesn't know how you'll never go back on your word, ever. She doesn't know you'd rather die than hurt someone!_

_She didn't hold you every time you cried! She didn't hug you all the time! She didn't share those whispers and secrets with you! _

_She doesn't know you! She doesn't deserve you! She'll never know how special you are! _

_She doesn't love you! She doesn't love you like _I _do!_

"Shut up!"

"What?" Yuugi was watching him with alert surprise.

Yami knew he shouldn't say anything; he knew that, no matter what he said, speaking any semblance of the truth was going to only hurt him in the end. He knew no good would come out of his next words, but they still flew insistently from his mouth despite the desperate protests of his common sense.

"Just shut up about Anzu Yuugi!" He was seething. The look of shock on Yuugi's face warned him, begged him, to stop, but he barreled on down his collision course of self-destruction. "I don't want to hear anymore about how fucking perfect she is and how great you guys are together!"

"What the hell is your problem Yami?" The initial stupor had passed and now rightfully owned anger and hurt colored Yuugi's face. Although Yuugi was fixing him with a harsh, angry frown, he was still Yuugi, and he still remained silent after he had spoken, waiting patiently for Yami's answer.

Yami wanted to laugh and cry simultaneously; Yuugi was the only person who actually posed the overused exclamation as an actual question. It hurt with a throbbing ache, but it was the epitome of why he had fallen in love with his best friend.

_I don't want her to have you. I want you. That's what the hell my problem is._

He said nothing.

"Damn it Yami, you're my best friend. I thought you'd be happy for me." Yuugi sounded hurt more than anything now, but his expression remained a mystery.

Yami wouldn't know what his face looked like; he couldn't bear to see it right now.

_How can I be happy for you when she's so wrong for you? Can't you see that Yuugi? Can't you see she's not worth what you are?_

"I'm not," he said. He knew he sounded petulant; he knew he sounded like an ass. He still didn't elaborate.

"Listen Yami," Yami winced imperceptibly at the anger, "I don't know what your problem is, and you're my best friend, but I really like Anzu." Those words alone were enough to further splinter the stinging remains of his heart. "So whenever you're ready to pull your head out from wherever it is and tell me what's wrong you know where to find me."

And with that, Yuugi stood and left Yami sitting alone under the bare branches of the sakura tree outside their school. Yami wanted to cry, wanted to scream; he did neither. Tears collected at the edges of his eyes and a noise welled up in his throat, but he pushed them down and away.

"_Big boys don't cry." _He'd said that to Yuugi once when he'd wiped wet streaks from his face. Yuugi had hugged him tightly afterward.

The tears came back twice as persistent, threatening to leak from the corners of his eyes.

He wondered at what he would say later; what web would he weave when he saw Yuugi next? He would apologize, maybe say something about a bad day or his parents fighting. Maybe he'd even admit to being envious in a diluted and downplayed way, let Yuugi assume it was Yuugi he was jealous of and not Anzu.

"_Best friends don't keep anything from each other." _Who had said that, him or Yuugi?

It was wrong. Best friends kept everything from each other.

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><p><strong>Thanks again my beautiful, wonderful, amazing readers!<strong>


	23. Two Roads

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh, but I do love you all for reading!**

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><p>23. Two Roads<p>

He had had a choice. Yami no Yuugi, Nameless Pharaoh, 'mou hitori no boku', 'mou hitori no Yuugi', Atemu, the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle...he had had a choice.

He didn't have to go. He didn't have to leave Yuugi all alone.

He could have stayed. He could have been their friend for the rest of their lives.

They all loved him. They all needed him!

..._He_ loved him..._He _needed him.

...So why did he choose death over life?

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><p><strong>Thank you my wonderful people!<strong>


	24. Sweating

**AN: No own Yu Gi Oh...random (hopefully)sexiness? Enjoy?**

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><p>24. Sweating<p>

A bead of moisture ran down the back of his neck and Yuugi met it, licking a trail up to the hairline. His efforts were rewarded with a low, wanton moan.

"You're sweating," he muttered to his lover's ear, voice husky in evidence of his own desire.

Yami couldn't speak; he uttered short pants as pale hands darted under his shirt to pull it over his head.

He found himself pushed none too gently onto the couch, where Yuugi stood over his seated form. His blood begin to boil under the fire in Yuugi's eyes, each glance a flame devouring every inch of his body.

A bead of sweat formed and began to slide down his chest and onto his stomach. Their eyes caught and Yuugi quirked a devilish eyebrow.

Yami's breath stopped when he bent to receive the bead with his tongue.

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><p><strong>Thank you!<strong>


	25. Hold My Hand

**AN: Surprise, I don't own Yu Gi Oh :P Thanks for reading though guys, you all brighten up my day :)**

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><p>25. Hold My Hand<p>

Yuugi was near tears, his breath was shaky.

"Just, please, please hold my hand," he whispered.

Yami wasn't faring much better. He nodded, but only because he was speechless; a nasty lump in his throat was cutting off his words and threatening to cut off his air supply.

They were quiet.

It was quite possibly their last night together for all eternity. If Yuugi won...If Yami crossed over...If Yuugi couldn't join him in death...

Deep within the confines of their minds they did not speak the thoughts they could feel suffocating them like a thick wool blanket. They sat in silence instead, holding hands they could not even feel.

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><p><strong>Thanks again!<strong>


	26. Gone

**AN: Don't own Yu Gi Oh...This is the realist in me: What if Atemu left for good? What'd happen to Yuugi then having loved him? Enjoy ?**

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><p>26. Gone<p>

"I still love him and I always will. I'm not over him Jounouchi. I love you, but...I don't know if it'll ever be the same way I loved him. Can you live with that?"

Jounouchi nodded rather sagely, with so much serenity that Yuugi feared for a moment his friend really didn't understand at all.

"Yuugi, no one's expecting you to just forget him," Jounouchi said with a shake of his head. "We all loved him. I loved him too, just in a different way than you, that's all." He shrugged. "You loved someone you could have spent forever with and they died. I know I'm not the person you had in mind Yuugi, but if you can give this a shot then I want to."

"But Jounouchi, are you really sure you can live with that, with _this_?" Yuugi stopped to clamp his lower lip tightly between his teeth.

"Hey, stop that, you're going to start bleeding," the blond teased, swiping a thumb across Yuugi's chin to pull the trapped lip from his gnashing mouth. When Yuugi turned slightly pink at the contact he let out a low chuckle.

"You don't have to feel guilty Yuugi," he stopped and frowned; he continued on more softly, "I know you love me, and I know I wasn't the one you hoped to end up with, but that doesn't make what you feel or I feel meaningless, Yuugi, so stop trying to beat yourself up about it. I want to be with you, but only if it makes you feel happy, not guilty. I don't want that for you...and I don't think Atemu would either."

Jounouchi waited patiently for the brief ghostly white color of Yuugi's skin to fade and return to its normal peachy tone, used to the effect Atemu's name still had on the young duelist. He said nothing as he watched the flicker of wrestling demons echo from Yuugi's dark eyes; instead he kept his hand cupping Yuugi's jaw, waiting for a signal that it was alright to further embrace his friend.

While Jounouchi waited Yuugi battled with his inner turmoil: his guilt and pain and suffering and love. Falling in love all over again had brought nearly as much pain as his yami's passing on had, when 'mou hitori no boku' had become Atemu once more and left him for good. Jounouchi had stuck with him through his period of mourning, through not only his moments of quiet despondence seen by all, but also his private moments of rage and bitter anguish. After a while falling in love with the man who had been by his side for so long seemed only natural, but initial elation had been met with an equal amount of torment.

Jounouchi's unexpected maturity, his calm understanding and acceptance over the undeniable terms and conditions of Yuugi's reciprocated love only furthered Yuugi's feelings of self-blame and inadequacy. Indeed even when Yuugi looked at him now, honey-brown eyes alight with an inner fire of love and desire, undemanding but selflessly offering, he nearly wanted to cry out in regret and frustration.

Over the slow growth of their relationship it had been as though Jounouchi had realized Yuugi's feelings even before he himself had and, through a labor and meditation all his own, had come to readily accept what he knew Yuugi could and could not offer him in return for his own affections. For all of Jounouchi's heart that he would happily give up to Yuugi, all that he had asked was that Yuugi allow himself to be happy. It had been Jounouchi's only request; to allow himself another chance to live and love as he had done so before, not with himself but with anyone at all. The idea made Yuugi's very soul swell with a kind of delirious, painful joy.

And those eyes. Those eyes, even with their different shade and shape, were oh so familiar and similar to another pair that had been red-violet instead of golden-brown. The fierceness and fury, the hardness that stayed in them most frequently, and the soft warmth that so rarely showed itself but nearly burned a man alive when it did; oh yes, they had the same eyes in every way that mattered. Sometimes Yuugi swore he saw his other self when he looked into Jounouchi's eyes, and he still wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

He also wasn't sure how to feel about the owner of a pair of striking blue eyes; blue eyes that had become hardened ice since the romance between the best friends had become public knowledge. Yuugi hadn't failed to notice the exceedingly derisive comments Kaiba had made about their relationship, or his increasingly excessive resentment for Yuugi and the way his insults had grown harsher and more universally directed. When Jounouchi had gone head-to-head with the arrogant man Yuugi had quite clearly seen the hurt that danced on Kaiba's face as soon as Jounouchi had his back turned.

It was hard to watch how the businessman had returned so quickly to the shell he had been so slowly broken out of.

And it was just one more thing to feel guilty about. Kaiba wanted to be with Jounouchi, Jounouchi wanted to be with Yuugi, and Yuugi wanted to be with Jounouchi, but even more so wanted to be with a dead and gone disembodied spirit who hadn't actually been alive for over three thousand years.

"Yuugi," there was another gentle swipe of a thumb across his chin, "you're spacing out on me again buddy."

"Sorry," Yuugi bowed his head slightly, not daring to look into those eyes and risk seeing someone else there.

Jounouchi chuckled. "It's alright Yuugi, you don't have to apologize you me, you know. I love you Yuugi, and I'll love you no matter what; you know that right?" He paused. "It's a forever kind of love Yuugi; no matter what you decide."

Yuugi looked up, slightly startled at the sweet, but firm tone of those words. He looked up into those deep eyes, shimmering with a love patient and everlasting. For the first time in a long time he saw Jounouchi, only Jounouchi, in those eyes. It was the last straw for his breaking resolve.

"Jounouchi," Yuugi lunged forward slightly and into awaiting arms that caught him with ease. He gripped at Jounouchi's shirt and buried his face into his friend's strong chest. When a pair of warm arms encircled him tightly he felt himself began to shake, and let tears slide from his eyes.

"I will, I will," he repeated, and hoped Jounouchi would understand without demanding an explanation that he could not bear to give right then.

"Thank you Yuugi," the words came whispered into Yuugi's ear, laced with a relieved happiness that amazed him. Before Yuugi could question it or bolt out of fear and self-doubt Jounouchi rubbed at his back and arms in soothing motions with doting calloused hands.

"No, Yuugi, it's not a fairytale kind of ending," he spoke as if plucking Yuugi's worries from his mind, "but, I think, it's even less so for you, isn't it?"

Yuugi said nothing; he let his soft sobs do that talking for him.

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><p><strong>I like this one, so I hope y'all don't think it sucks. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	27. Lost

**AN: Don't own Yu Gi Oh...more abstract this time, YY centric with only hints of Yuugi's existence. Hope you guys don't hate it. Thanks!**

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><p>27. Lost<p>

He was falling. Falling through Hellfire and brimstone. Falling through snow and icicle towers. Through darkness and stalagmites. Through sun and beams of light.

His soul was tortured; pulled this way and that by the hand of God and the products of his own warped mind. Every second of existence was agony. Every moment lasted beyond an eternity.

He writhed within the confines of his own trapped ego. His id screamed deep in his psyche, cracked and disappeared under the insistent and enduring onslaught of horrific degradation.

With the wrath of a viper's fangs did he curse them: his creator, his mother and father, the gods, and all those whom his mind distantly remembered. He cursed their souls to suffer the same fate as his own; he spat out pleas for their damnation. Half lucid and half mad he begged for all to be consumed.

Deterioration, destruction; etched away at and worn down; being endlessly torn apart and sown back together in freakish mutation. It carried on eternally, timelessly.

Then a light appeared that did not burn, did not pierce or blind. There was time once more. The shining brightness was harsh with purity, with unadulterated benevolence. It stood before him.

It did not beckon him. It cowered away from his very being; pulled back from his radiating taint. He did not care. The light was the portal to the world beyond his own; this was the doorway to existence away from his cursed own.

Violently he pushed through. He tore at the edges of the sparkling white exterior; he ignored its cries. There was air here, there was breath here. The end had finally come. Time and space were definable beings once more.

There were others here too. Creatures who gave company to the demons filling every bit of him. They mimicked him; they mocked him. They did not know to whom they spoke. Soon they would learn.

Pulsing joy like a fine metal thread ran down his soul; he shivered. It was time to repay the world all the favors it had bestowed upon him. It was time to give birth to the curses his insanity craved.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	28. Storm

**AN: Don't own Yu Gi Oh!...but I love you amazing people! Btw, this is an excerpt from "Corrupted" (one of the ideas I've had for a Yu Gi Oh multi chap (it got the least votes in my poll :P) ) so here's a piece of it and you can see if you're interested in reading more? Thanks for reading!**

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><p>28. Storm<p>

"He really likes you, you know."

"What?" He was shaken from his thoughts with Anzu's soft words.

Atemu felt heat begin to rise to his face and ducked his gaze. He scoffed. "I don't think so Anzu."

She favored his startled visage with a kind, lighthearted smile; her graceful steps never faltered in their slow dance. "He really likes you Atemu. Really."

The young man glanced to where Yuugi sat, looking a little forlorn and aged from his spectator's seat as he watched his date and Atemu dance. Yuugi looked away just a tad too quickly as Atemu's gaze grazed his own; eyes averted too steadily to be a coincidence.

"He sure has a funny way of showing it," he muttered to his partner.

Anzu said nothing as he twirled her fluidly. Heat radiated pleasantly between them as their bodies came back into close contact. The soothing jazz music that wafted through the air and the shining mirror lights that sparkled on the ballroom floor captured the couple in what might have been a magical moment. Atemu's heart might have hurt more had it not already been stung with bitterness.

"He's scared Atemu," Anzu started again, words quiet even in comparison to the soft music.

"What, that I'm a kid?" he interjected, "I've heard that before!" He snarled mutedly, and instantly regretted it.

Once again quiet, Anzu continued dancing. After a moment of silence Atemu sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to snap at you."

The brunette didn't smile this time, but merely shook her head. "That's not it, Atemu, the age thing. Well, not the way you think anyway." She paused and bit her lip slightly. "Yuugi's not used to having someone like you around who actually likes him. I've known Yuugi for a long time Atemu and you're definitely the kind of guy who wouldn't have been friends with him when he was in high school. It's not that you'd refuse to be Atemu," she deftly cut off the protest forming on his lips, "You would never have even _seen_ Yuugi.

It's natural for you to be noticed, to be in the spotlight, but he's different. Yuugi is used to being a part of the background, he's just..."

She trailed off with a sigh and looked briefly over Atemu's shoulder, and he was very aware of who her gaze had landed on. Atemu looked at her expectantly, but when her eyes flickered back to Atemu's own she gave him a sad smile and a soft shake of her head.

"Mm-mm," the fringe of her hair spun out as the noise of dissent left her tight lips, "If I keep telling both of you all this you'll never talk and fix things. Whatever happened between the two of you, you both need to talk about. Yuugi hasn't been himself at all the past few weeks, and I've never seen you so mopey! It's unlike you two to give up on something so easily. So quit it; it's weird."

The mock frown that had briefly formed turned into a soft smile; before Atemu could reply the song came to an end and Anzu released her hold and stepped back from his touch, bringing her hands up to gently clap along with the other dancers and listeners. Belatedly Atemu brought his hands together just as the applause started to die down, mind vaguely reeling.

Still caught in a trance from her words, Atemu had no time to react when Anzu moved forward so that their chests touched, and brought her lips to his cheek in a sweet kiss. Atemu waited momentarily for her to move back, but she stood her ground and kept her lips near his ear.

"Please, Atemu, don't just shut him out; it won't make either of you happy. You're both already miserable without each other, we both know it's true, so, just, when he talks to you, please try to give him a chance. For both your sakes. Rainbows only come after the storm, you know. I should go now though, I think my date is in need of some company."

Anzu pulled Atemu into a quick, but firm hug and let go, shooting him one last reassuring smile before she swished away with the shimmer of her dress and a glow all her own.

Atemu's gaze followed her path across the floor to her destination, where he was suddenly struck with a vision of dark, dulled amethyst. Yuugi straightened from his slumped position when their looks met; his eyes widened with a kind of anxious surprise that made Atemu wonder at what Anzu had said.

They stared at one another, lost in a world completely separate from the one their bodies existed in consisting of dancers and laughter and music and the busy ballroom floor. Their faces locked on one another and did not waver. They didn't share happiness, or eagerness, but a look of deadened anticipation that did not sit well in Atemu's gut or his heart.

It was most certainly a storm that he and Yuugi were caught in, but he wondered with cynical realism if it would ever pass at all.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	29. Monster

**ANL: Yu Gi Oh's not mine...boo. Thanks for reading everyone!**

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><p>29. Monster<p>

"I love you," it had said.

"I love you so much," it repeated. It wrapped it's arms around Yuugi and nearly swallowed him in black.

Yuugi was suffocating, but not dying. He opened his mouth to breathe, to scream, but only swallowed up the bleak darkness that surrounded him. He started to choke, but did not suffer. Every move he made only served to allow the pool of black around him to engulf him further. This space was in his dreams, his nightmares; it was somewhere deep inside his own mind, his soul, and yet he knew its consequences were very real.

"I love you so very, very much Yuugi," it murmured lowly, "Let me protect you Yuugi. Let me love you."

Very soon Yuugi would be entirely in the belly of the beast. This _thing_ was eating away at his body and soul; the fear that would have entangled him was being hushed through the powers of this omnipotent being. Soon there would be no spot left untouched. The waves of a sea of shadows were riding over the last bits of his separate self.

"I love you Yuugi," it repeated, echoed and spoke without feeling need to reassure.

Yuugi felt himself going under at last, freewill fading and losing consciousness. His brain whispered one last thought aloud.

Could monsters really love?

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	30. Heaven

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh...thanks for reading!**

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><p>30. Heaven<p>

"I love you, mou hitori no boku."

"...I know you do Yuugi."

"_Yuugi_,"Already he could feel his heart breaking. He swallowed harshly to rid himself of the lump forming in his throat.

"Do you...feel the same...about me?"

His spiritual half's eyes darted to avoid his pleading gaze. He looked so uncomfortable Yuugi almost regretted asking the question, his burning need for reassurance.

"Of course I do Yuugi, you know that." The reply ended hanging in the air.

"Isn't...isn't that enough mou hitori no boku?"

Yami no Yuugi moved his gaze away even further, as if to rid even the corners of his vision of Yuugi's sight. It was one of the simple gestures that spoke volumes of their fundamental differences: When Yuugi begged for something he looked into someone's eyes, when Yami no Yuugi did it he looked away.

"Please...Yuugi...don't make me answer that."

Yuugi forced his heart to stop from shattering. They just had very different definitions of heaven, and unfortunately, the love of his life's was much more literal than his own.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! (I'll try to have some happier ones done soon!)<strong>


	31. Snow

**AN: Thanks all! I don't own Yu Gi Oh but you amazing ppl keep me coming back for more!**

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><p>31. Snow<p>

Every snowfall Yuugi Motou could be seen dancing at night.

He never questioned the how or the why it happened, but every year when it got cold and snow started to fall from the skies over Japan he found himself in darkened spaces of Domino City Park, away from the stares of strangers, in the dead of night, staring into the half-visible form of his long-lost love.

He was never quite sure if it was a figment of his love-starved imagination or whether it was real, but nonetheless, each time he swore that he faintly felt his lost love's body against his own during every minute of their mindnight waltz.

It was not the Atemu who had left for the Afterlife that visited him, but his Yami, his _mou hitori no boku._ There he stood, pale and transparent and wearing the chicer version of his own high school uniform, chain-attached pyramid and all, his hands on his slightly cocked hips and a smile in place that suggested nostalgic cockiness in place of real arrogance.

The first time the snow had called to him, when he had still been a teenager, he had seen his departed love and whispered, "Mou hitori no boku," in a puff of white air. No echoing white breath had come forth from the other, no breath at all, nothing but that smile, but Yuugi swore then and every time since that there was something of substance in those eyes, something that meant some part of his other self had lived on. And that was enough for Yuugi Motou to hold on to; it was enough for him to dance with the air every time it snowed.

It stayed the same every year. Only when it was cold enough to snow, be it a blizzard or a few flurries, and only then, Yuugi saw his dark self, his Yami standing out in the freezing air, patiently awaiting his dance partner.

Without needing to ask Yuugi knew he would never see Yami any other time of year or in any other place than where he stood. He knew that though the touch was barely perceptible, and quite possibly a trick of his own brain, it was enough to sustain his love.

So Yuugi danced with Yami when he was eighteen in his nearly outgrown high school uniform on that first fateful night when insomnia plagued him, jacket forgotten as he was pulled from the comfort of his home by the call of the bitter, snow-dotted wind. Yuugi danced with Yami during the worst blizzard in Domino City history under the full moon when he was thirty, head thrown back in joyous laughter in the city park, ecstatic just to be with the one he loved so dearly.

And Yuugi still danced with Yami when he was sixty in that same park, just down the street from the game store he ran, owned, and still lived above. His steps were a little slower and the laugh lines were clearly evident on his face, a little middle-aged spread on his belly, but he still walked solidly and happily with the crunch of forming snow under his feet to waltz with the ghost of a man who now seemed to be a third of his own age.

For just over seventy years the lovers had faithfully danced with one another when the last snowfall finally came.

Yuugi Motou, eighty-eight, never married and with no children, but by no means unhappy, could feel his time coming to an end. His heart beat slower and irregularly and not without pain. He felt a sudden stab of regret and unhappiness. How badly he would have loved to have one last dance with his precious Yami.

He sighed a heavy, aged sigh. He didn't know what would happen when he died, but he was very worried that it might not involve the love of his life; he didn't care whether or not Yami had been 'real' all of these years, he had been real enough for Yuugi. He was going to miss that dearly.

Yuugi stood and made his way to the window in vain hope. He cracked a wide smile at what he saw. The barest of flurries were falling to the ground as if to answer his dying wish.

With as much energy as he could muster Yuugi slightly hobbled his way to his door, pulling his bum leg along with vigor. He threw open the shop door and let it jingle shut behind him, not bothering to find his coat or lock up the store for what he knew would be the last time.

His breath was just barely visible in the air and the weather was still too warm for the snow to stick to the ground, but Yuugi held out hope that maybe, just maybe, it was cold enough for his Yami to be

there. Quickly he pushed himself down the city sidewalks to the park, ignoring the pain in his chest and the way his breath had become constricted and labored. He sighed with relief when he finally reached the park and desperately searched with his aged amethyst orbs for the one who had held fast to his heart for over seven decades.

"There you are," he sighed happily, voice raspy. He chuckled. "I was afraid you might not make it in time."

He held out his hands for that ethereal touch and smiled sincerely when Yami silently walked to him and held him with a smile of his own. They stood in their assumed positions and began to dance to a tune only the two of them could hear.

But no sooner had they begun to dance than Yuugi let out a cry and fell to the ground.

"I-I'm glad, Y-Yami," he choked out, breaths coming out in quick pants as he clutched at his chest, "I'm j-jus-t, s-s-so h-hap-py. I l-lo-love y-ou."

Though he knew the ground beneath him must be cold Yuugi did not feel it in his arthritic joints or bones.

And for the first time in over seventy years Yuugi could swear he was actually hearing the voice of his dear _mou hitori no boku_, starting as a whisper but growing more audible with each word.

"...so...long...aibou, so very long. My sweet aibou. I love you so very, very much. I've waited for you for so long."

Yami reached down with youthful fingers to stroke at Yuugi's weathered cheek, and for the first time Yuugi could swear with certainty that the touch was tangible. Had he the strength to raise his own hand he would have touched it in return, and had he not been so afraid Yami might disappear from his view he would have shut his eyes and reveled in sensation.

"Y-Yami," was all he could manage in his gruff voice.

"Dance with me aibou." This time Yami purposefully whispered as he smiled and reached out a pale hand to Yuugi that seemed oddly more visible than ever.

Despite the protest Yuugi felt on his tongue that he seemed to no have the strength to vocalize, he felt his own hand rise with apparent ease to be firmly clasped in Yami's own and found himself moving to stand more smoothly than he had in years.

"Mou hitori no boku," he whispered, voice surprisingly lithe and light.

"Aibou, aibou." His dark self seemed very solid and real, and pulled him tightly into a hold Yuugi could completely feel.

Yuugi gasped suddenly, only to realize that he had no sensation of breath; indeed his breath failed to hang in the air in a puff of white when he exhaled in the cold night. He touched his weathered cheeks only to find them smooth and young again.

"Come with me aibou," Yami whispered into his ear.

"Always," Yuugi whispered back.

They joined hands once more to dance the night away as the air grew bitter and snow began to fall heavily on the ground. Their footsteps never formed to give evidence of their presence or their disappearance as they faded away in the hours of sunrise, beaming with love and bliss. They only thing that remained of them was the aged body of Yuugi Motou, aged eighty-eight, lying on the ground, covered in snow, with his hand clutching his chest and his lips upturned in a beautiful grin.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!...not sure how I feel about this one...<strong>


	32. Precious Treasure

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! Thanks for reading though!**

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><p>32. Precious Treasure<p>

The solid gold pendant in Yuugi's hands was worth a fortune, no doubt about it.

Certainly based on its material he could have sold it for enough money to keep himself and his grandfather financially secure for years to come.

Had he considered its historical value he could have gotten at least five times that on the black market, or had the most prestigious museums from around the world vying for its donation.

If the country of Egypt had known of its existence they would have sought its return with justifiable claims of its unlawful removal.

Yuugi Motou had no desire for vast wealth; he was a young man with simple needs and simple pleasures.

He was extremely fascinated with the pendant's history, but more with the one attached to it than the one it represented.

Reluctantly he understood that one day the solid gold puzzle he held so dearly, so tenderly, might very well return to its country of origin, and rightfully so, but he would cut off his own hands before initiating it.

Yuugi's most precious treasure rested cradled in his hands, warm from his touch and a heat radiating from within.

"Mou hitori no boku," he called sweetly.

"_Aibou," _resounded lovingly in his mind.

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><p><strong>Thank you lovely readers!<strong>


	33. Questioning

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh...and thank you all for reading and reviewing! You guys are wonderful!**

**...Update! Sorry my lovely peeps, it's finals/papers time/who knows what else I'm forgetting to do time :P...but yay! summer break is almost here for me! While I do need to get a second job, the lack of paper writing should open up some free time to do more of the writing I love! So hopefully we can get some updates going :) Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing! I 3 you all!**

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><p>33. Questioning<p>

He awoke with a gasp and shot up in his bed. Quickly he stole a glance to the side and sighed in relief to see the blankets still rising and falling in compliance with the rhythmic serenity of his lover's sleeping breath. He smiled slightly in spite of himself at the sight before gazing away.

While Yuugi slumbered on he stared down at the foot of the bed where the moonlight cast a spectral shadow over the lumpy hills of his covered feet. He ran a hand through his hair, no longer smiling.

A leaded weight was settling in his gut, pulling him under. He touched his heated chest with cold fingers right over where his heart had turned to stone; a chill came over him and he shivered under the thin sheen of drying sweat.

Careful not to wake his partner he gently pushed the covers to the side, rippling the image of moonbeams. With unsteady feet he crawled out of bed and stepped shakily across the floor, stopping at the wall to press his palms to the icy window pane.

Outside the moon had cast a chilling white light over the ground; all was illuminated with a pale, deathly glow. One look down showed his bare chest colorless under the ministrations of moonlight, making him look gaunt and sickly. He shivered.

This was not how it was supposed to be. Moonlight was supposed to be refreshingly cool after a hot, gleaming day. The night skies were supposed to be majestic and beautiful; they should never have been so terrifyingly still and deathlike.

Everything reminded him of death nowadays; nothing was like it was supposed to have been...

"Are you okay? ...Atemu?"

Yuugi's voice first murmured sleepily, then with the barest of whispers; he sounded unwilling to ask the question, afraid of receiving the answer. Atemu was no fool, and he was just as afraid of the answer as Yuugi was.

He fixed a careful smile on his face before turning.

"I'm just fine, aibou, I simply had a dream that woke me, go back to sleep." For a moment Yuugi stared at him as if transfixed trying to decipher the validity of that proclamation. When the younger man made no move to lie down, gripping at the bed sheet with a resolutely clenched hand, Atemu repeated, "...go back to sleep Yuugi," and the smile was dropped.

It was not as gentle, not as loving, and the pained expression on his lover's face made Atemu glance away from Yuugi's nod and slow slide back down under the bed cover. Atemu was certain that Yuugi knew his frustration was not directed towards him...almost certain.

Atemu knew Yuugi too well to believe he'd actually fallen asleep so easily when he was worried over his own well-being, but he pretended he didn't. Both of them would pass the night like that, Yuugi feigning sleep while Atemu gazed out the window at a world he could no longer see, both questioning whether they had made the right decision at that pivotal moment that now seemed so far away.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	34. No Way Out

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh, its characters are just my playthings.**

**Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing and faving and being awesome! I forgot to mention in the last chapter my comment on "Snow"; lol it was by far the most commented on/complimented story in the bunch, possibly out of any of the chapters so far. I'm glad that so many of you loved it and that it really moved you guys...but I'm sorry it depressed a lot of you :( Lol as a writer I am very pleased to move my readers to tears, I just feel terribly guilty doing so :P Lol I also wanted to say that I do kinda view it as a happy ending cause they're together again at the end :)**

**On to the show! This is an excerpt from a multi-chap _"Eternal: The Curse of Love"_**

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><p>34. No Way Out<p>

The sky was overcast and dark; an unnatural air hung about them. The sand was sticky wet with blood. So much had saturated the ground that it had seeped deep into the sand and colored it as dark as the sky.

Now the two that had brought about such bloodshed stood within easy sight of each other, no more than twenty feet apart. Yet, for how close they were, how tangible they could have been to one another, everything had already changed. They were further from each others' arms now than they ever had been and there was no going back, neither had the humanity left to do so.

"Heba!" The cry was hoarse, desperate, and there was a wild, crazed look in its bearer's eyes. With tattered clothes and sullied skin Atemu wavered on his feet. His chest heaved as he panted, but the demonic red in his eyes remained an inferno; he was not a tired man, oh no, but a savage beast pushed to the edge of the precipice, waiting to deliver a final, suicidal strike. The once great pharaoh was ready to destroy all around him; it no longer mattered who or what met their demise at his hand.

"That is not my name Pharaoh. That is only the name you gave my former self, but that was not his true name nor is it mine. Just as you are no longer Atemu I can no longer recognize that word as my name. You have forfeited any right to use it." His words were so cool they threatened to freeze the heart of living things, devoid of emotion but full of unworldly power. And while Atemu's eyes were raw and beastly with hellfire his own were frigid and empty, the sparkle that once filled them had been sucked out and replaced by something black and bottomless. His face was expressionless, no anger, no pain and he never drew breath as he stood erect. There was no hint of what he had once been and how joyfully his voice had once called his lover's name, all that radiated from him now was that unearthly, terrifying spiritual essence that sprung from him like an invisible shield. "Pharaoh!" His voice raised for the first time, "This will end here!"

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Sorry for the shortness of the excerpt, but this scene is at the height of some drama and I didn't want to give too much away for anyone possibly interested in reading the story later in its entirety.<strong>


	35. Desecrate

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh...big surprise :P Thanks guys for being awesome and reading and reviewing and everything! This is a quickie!**

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><p>35. Desecrate<p>

You're holding back mou hitori no boku. You're restraining yourself.

I'm not a child mou hitori no boku, yami no boku, and I don't want to be. Please stop looking at me like that. I can see it in your eyes, in your soul. You don't want our spirits to touch so closely, so intimately. You're afraid of tainting me.

I was tainted long before I met you mou hitori no boku...

'Tenshi' is not a word to describe me, and neither is 'hikari'. I hate those words, I hate what they mean. Everyone wants to wrap me in them like cloth, as if to keep me from being tarnished by the outside world.

Has everyone forgotten what I've seen? What I've done?

I'm not innocent Pharaoh. And I don't want to be.

Don't let me be pure. Please Pharaoh, please meld with me, touch every part of me and leave nothing sacred. Don't make me stand on a pedestal above you, drag me down from that perch, keep me beside you. Dirty me, defile me, make me yours. Ruin me for all others, mark me.

Desecrate me until all my light becomes shadowed.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading you wonderful people you!<strong>


	36. Movie

**AN: Oh look, it's an update! Sorry guys, major block yadda yadda...let's get onto the writing shall we? Hopefully I'll start getting these regular again...after all we've still got over 60 to go!**

**I hope you all enjoy these my lovely, wonderful readers, thank you so much for your patience and I truly hope these are staying up to your standards. I deeply appreciate all the feedback you've given and the faves and everything, and thank you for just reading.**

**disclaimer: I don't own Yu Gi Oh- not even the gayness (that's just part of the show really)**

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><p>36. Movie<p>

"It's just a movie aibou, I don't understand why you're making such a big deal about it." Standing semi-opaque with his arms folded, the spirit stood behind his young host with one eyebrow raised in utter bewilderment.

In front of the disembodied man was a very much bodied counterpart, cutting and shuffling his deck hastily and with obvious aggravation. Yami watched the scene before him with a concerned frown. "Aibou, I don't think you've thought this strategy through. It doesn't make sense."

Yuugi's shoulders seized up before he abruptly, silently, put his askew deck back together and placed it down carefully on the desktop. "If it really means that much to you aibou you can go see the movie with Anzu instead."

"I really don't think I'm the one Anzu wants to go with mou hitori no boku." Even without his turning around it was impossible to not imagine Yuugi was gritting his teeth.

"Why not? You're friends, aren't you? And it will give you some time alone together." The cheeky tone and unseen wink must have been lost on Yuugi, because when he turned around it was with an irritated huff.

"You don't get it mou hitori no boku, a movie is never just a movie! And stop teasing me!"

Arms still crossed a transparent brow now raised with curiosity. "You watched a movie with Jounouchi last week."

An attractive shade of red flushed Yuugi's fair face. "That-that's different! I mean, a movie can be just a movie, but it's usually not-I mean, between friends a movie can be just a movie, but not when it's a girl and—stop laughing at me!"

The snickering spirit held up his hands. "Of course, whatever you say aibou," he smirked. "I think I'm going to rest in my soul room for a bit." The teen muttered something lowly to himself, looking away, his fists balled up in his lap, dimmed to a soft pink. "But Yuugi?"

The teen looked up on cue, though still quite peeved. "Yes, mou hitori no boku?"

"I promise aibou," he spoke clearly and gently, his face softening into one of his charming, rare, smiles, the ones that unfailingly darkened the color of Yuugi's cheeks. "This is _just_ a movie."

Before he disappeared, quite pleased with himself at the red, flustered visage of his precious partner, he called out, "Aibou, maybe we should watch a movie together sometime," and, while he chuckled to himself in the confines of his soul room, this teenage companion sat in his very real bedroom, very red-faced, making odd noises in his throat, very confused as to what had just happened.

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!<strong>


	37. Kick in the Head

**AN: Yes children, this sugary fluff with rot your brain and your teeth, but it's fun, no?**

**My lovely, wonderful readers thank you for putting up with me! I really hope you enjoy this sugary nonsense!**

**Disclaimer: Yu Gi Oh ain't mine-damn.**

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><p>37. Kick in the Head<p>

"Hmmm..."

Yuugi closed his eyes and bit back a sigh of his own; his naturally cheerful, accommodating nature was reaching its limits.

The now completely and totally physical spirit of a former pharaoh who had once shared joint custody over his own body was reclined on his bed, arms behind his head and one leg swinging back and forth as it hung over the edge, hovering an inch above the floor. Once again he was laying back, staring at the ceiling, preoccupied and endlessly sighing—something that had become rather habitual as of late.

And once again he was distracting Yuugi Mutou from his much neglected schoolwork.

"Hmmm..."

With a silent sigh of his own, Yuugi placed his pencil back down on the desktop and turned to his companion with a fixed, patient smile on his face. "What is it Yami?"

The distracted young man's foot stopped. "Hmm?" He turned to Yuugi as though surprised to see him there. "Oh, sorry,-Yuugi. Did I interrupt your work again?"

Yuugi gave a half-shrug, still patiently smiling as he stood and walked over to the bed. "It's okay, I was going to take a break anyway. You know, it's okay if you call me aibou, I don't mind." The teen sat by the foot of the bed, where Yami shifted to make more room for his still small frame.

As Yuugi leaned back, palms behind him on the bed, Yami pulled himself to sit up in a similar fashion, legs splayed in front of him. "No," he shook his head and its wild array of brilliantly hued locks, "That was a different time. This is a new life for me—for you. It's different now."

"And that's why you go by 'Yami' now," his question was more of a statement; it was a conversation they'd had several times before.

"Mmm," Yami hummed in agreement.

Yuugi turned to face the former pharaoh, who was once again staring at nothing, this time in the direction of the comforter they were sitting on. "So, is that what's bothering you? This new life?"

"Ugh," Yami flopped back on the bed, arms spread wide, "I just have no idea what to do anymore aibou!"

If there was one positive thing about all of this, Yuugi mused, it was that at least Yami's regal decorum was finally starting to give way; there was hope that he'd fit into modern day Japanese society yet. Though it unfortunately seemed to be coming at the cost of Yuugi's own high school diploma.

With a forlorn look at his waiting homework Yuugi suppressed the desire to suggest Yami take an interest in a high school career.

"Yami-" he started.

"We defeated all our enemies, saved our friends, saved the world..."

"Yami-"

"Freed Bakura and Marik from the spirits in the Sennen items..."

"Yami-"

"Unlocked my memories, sealed the Sennen items away for good, put all of those souls to rest..."

"Yami-"

"We've won all of the most important Duel Monsters tournaments-"

"Mou hitori no boku!"

The former pharaoh, former spirit, popped up on his elbows, staring up at the young man who had somehow come to be straddled over him without his noticing. "Yuugi?"

The teen's frown faded away with a hearty laugh at the ridiculously surprised countenance of his friend. He fell to the side and landed gracelessly on Yami's outstretched arm; still laughing, he rolled over until he was looking directly at a pair of bewildered red-violet eyes.

"You're over-thinking it Yami," he said with a smile.

For a moment Yami's face melted into a soft smile to match Yuugi's own, but it didn't last. Only a second later he was once again frowning, and turned his gaze back to the ceiling. "But aibou, what is my purpose here? My reason for existence? What if-"

Yami's moment of introspective, existential crisis was cut short when the soft pillow under him was ripped away only to land on his face with a feathery _smack!_.

The pillow was thrown to the floor to reveal a new sort of frown, this time not directed at the ceiling but the perpetrator of the soft assault, a perpetrator who was smiling and trying in vain not to laugh too hard at his victim's expense. "Are you done aibou?"

"Are _you_ mou hitori no boku?"

Yami grunted, not looking the young man poised above him in the eye. "Point taken aibou," his sign of concession quickly turned to a smile when his attacker slid back down to lie beside him. "You know Yuugi," he said as he wrapped one arm around the slightly smaller man's waist, gently drawing him closer, "I'm not really your mou hitori no boku anymore and you're not really my aibou."

Yuugi shifted to lay his head on his companion's shoulder. "Of course we are," he slid his hand across Yami's chest to grab the other man's hand, intertwining their fingers. "Those things don't really have anything to do with card games and duels. Right?"

With a squeeze of his partner's side Yami buried his nose into Yuugi's hair and clasped his hand more tightly. "No, you're right aibou, I guess they don't."

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><p><strong>As always thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed and reviews are always appreciated!<strong>


	38. Introduction

**AN: Woot, fluff. I hope y'all enjoy. As always I appreciate all of you lovely readers and reviewers and favers and I really hope this meets your approval. Feedback is always welcomed and strongly encouraged.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Gi Oh**

**Fun fact: all of the train information in the first paragraph is true to the best of my knowledge.**

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><p>38. Introduction<p>

Jounouchi had once said that the each and every day forty million people used the Tokyo railway system; forty million people traveling on one hundred and twenty-one different rail lines, being run by only thirty operators.

It had actually been one of his, many, warnings when Yuugi had said he was going to study in their capital city. Yuugi had laughed and gently chided his friend against telling such exaggerations; a million or two? maybe even four or five? Sure he could see that, but forty million was simply ridiculous. He had been certain that Jounouchi's figures were wrong, and now that he was here he was definitely sure that Jounouchi's number had been way off.

It had to be more than that. Much, much more.

Yuugi stood near the platform's edge, pressing his book satchel to his side so hard his arms were sore. He waited with bated breath; his heart was racing in anticipation standing beside his fellow passengers, all of them tensed like sprinters preparing to take off. As the train whooshed into the station and slowed to a halt he bent his knees, readying himself. When the doors of the car opened he took a deep breath and began to move forward.

He only made it two steps before he was rudely pushed the rest of the way in by the stampeding crowd behind him.

As he was shoved into the mass of passengers already aboard he wormed his way through to the other side of the car, aided by the propulsion of those behind him. He wriggled his bag-carrying arms up just in time to keep himself from smashing face-first into the car wall. He didn't even bother trying to turn around; he was very content staring at the wall until there weren't so many bodies practically forcing him into the steel itself.

It was only thirty or so seconds of chaos, but Yuugi still sighed with relief when he felt the train move once more...and then the crowd would at least be still, until the next station.

When the train slowed to a halt again Yuugi again took a deep breath and made sure he was holding tightly onto his bookbag so as not to lose it in the ever-shifting sea of commuters. There was the sudden swell and crush of bodies jostling around him, all shoving their ways in and out of the car, pressing him so hard into the wall he swore he felt the strain of his ribcage beginning to crack.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Yuugi felt a small space around him clear, allowing him to position himself more comfortably and, most importantly, take full breaths again. Placing a minute distance between himself and the wall before him, Yuugi began to cautiously turn around.

He'd only made it a quarter of the way when he was pushed forcefully forward by a swell of movement from the masses surrounding him. Unable to control his momentum in the short span of time, he flew, hands and loaded bookbag up, into the next unlucky obstacle...

Which happened to be the torso of another young man who cried "Ooph!" at the impact. A young man who Yuugi was accidentally groping.

"E-excuse me! I'm so sorry!" Pink with embarrassment Yuugi attempted to jump back, but was blocked by a wall of people, who, feeling the shock wave of Yuugi's force, sent it back, pushing Yuugi harder into his fellow passenger.

Now absolutely beet-red Yuugi tried to pull his hands and bag back to himself, muttering continual, "Sorry, sorry"s. Unfortunately, with the awkward position his arms had been caught in and the cloister of immovable people surrounding the pair, all of Yuugi's efforts only succeeding in cause him to slide his hands rather roughly and suggestively from the man's chest down his sides, closer to his hips. And it was precisely at that moment that Yuugi prayed that either the man whose neck he was eye-to-eye with would either be merciful and spare him the beating or that, more preferably, he would pass out before he died of embarrassment.

"It's nothing. Are you alright?"

For a moment Yuugi thought that he had imagined this sweet voice, those miraculous words. When he finally realized that they were not only real, but directed from the saint of a man he'd collided with to himself, it took a second to shake from his stupor and actually reply.

"Um, yeah, thanks. Are you?" He tried to raise his head to look the man in the eye, but in their close proximity found his way blocked by the other's chin. Feeling he'd already risked this man enough pain without jamming his own skull against his jaw, he lowered his head minutely again and contented himself with staring at neck before him, watching the slight Adam's apple bob up and down as he spoke.

"It'd take more than that to knock me down," boastful as it might have been, Yuugi felt he could most definitely, embarrassingly, attest to that probability judging by what his hands had felt. "But what do you carry in there? Bricks?" there was most certainly a teasing quality in his tone.

The subsiding flush in Yuugi's cheeks were stirred freshly. "Sorry. It's, uh, school supplies. I'm, um, I mean, sorry I bumped into you."

Yuugi couldn't see the face, but he swore he could imagine it bore a smile, a gentle one. "Like I said, don't worry about it, it happens here. It could have been worse for either of us, if it was somebody else."

"Yeah," he quietly agreed. They fell into silence.

Yuugi found himself studying every crook of the neck in front of him, the defined lines of structure and the dips of soft flesh, the most vulnerable apex between throat and clavicle. A sudden series of low, slow vibrations traveled up his fingertips, shaking his attention and supplying his face with an abundance of blood.

"Sorry," he tried to speak loudly enough to be heard over the constant din, "I couldn't hear you."

The head dipped slightly to speak more closely to his ear; warm breath blew on the fine hair there, and tickled the sensitive patch of skin. "I said, 'You must be pretty inexperienced.'"

"What?"

He was about to jerk his head up, possible pain be damned, and give this stranger a piece of his mind when he felt the vibrations of laughter ripple through him.

"The train," the young man clarified with a chuckle, head lowered once more, "You haven't taken the inner city lines very often, right?"

"A-ah, n-no," the breath on his neck seemed to steal his own, shivers ran up along his skin. Yuugi cleared his throat, "No, I haven't."

"You should try to avoid this line at this time of day if you can," it was astounding how such practical words could sound so sensual.

"O-oh, I, um, I have class—" Yuugi realized he was whispering too late and cleared his throat again. "I can't. Class."

The train slowed quickly—too quickly, and a quick hand somehow slid to be pressed against the small of his back, keeping Yuugi from falling into the passenger behind him. "Well then," the stranger kept his hand securely on Yuugi's back, where the warmth heated Yuugi's skin through his jacket and shirt, "maybe you should just stick to this train, and I'll make sure to look out for you. My name is Yami."

"I-I'm Yuugi. I think-" Feeling very flushed and hot pressed against the stranger's chest Yuugi opened his mouth to say something more when the train started to move again and out of the corner of his eye Yuugi spotted a very familiar station disappearing through the train doors. "I think I just missed my stop."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed and reviews are very welcome!<strong>


	39. 67 Percent

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! I hope you guys like this one...it's very silly. Yup. Once again thank you for all your reviews and faves and alerts. You guys are all wonderful!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>39. 67%<p>

"So, you were in love with Yuugi the whole time you guys shared a body?" Jounouchi posed the question one day between disturbingly large bites of his sandwich, much to the chagrin of one of his hosts, while the other ignored it as he pondered the question.

"I don't know, that's hard to say," the one formerly known as Yami, Yami no Yuugi, and Pharaoh, said, frowning in thought as he held his chin between a thumb and forefinger. "I definitely fell in love with aibou during that time, but I can't say when really. Maybe I loved him the whole time." He finished with a shrug while his lover placed his cup of tea back on the coffee table and leaned back to rest against him.

"Jounouchi," Yuugi said softly with a sigh of resignation, "you really should take smaller bites you know. We're not in high school anymore."

Instead of acknowledging his best friend's words the blond whipped his attention around and leaned over the coffee table. "What about you Yuugi? When did you start falling for Atemu here?" He pointed a finger the former spirit as he draped an arm across Yuugi's shoulders.

Yuugi flushed pink. "Jounouchi you shouldn't ask questions like that, it's embarrassing."

"So a long time then?" Jounouchi's mouth cracked into a grin.

Yuugi said nothing and darkened to a brilliant fuchsia, prompting a series of evil chuckles form his blond friend.

Jounouchi flopped back onto the couch he'd been sitting on as his laughter died down, wiping a tear from his eye while he watched Atemu squeeze Yuugi's arm as he placed a kiss on his temple. For a moment he was silent and then suddenly sat straight up in his seat, eyes wide. "Oh, I just thought of something guys."

"What Jounouchi?" Yuugi posed the question warily.

The blond bent forward and motioned for them to do the same. As their three heads hovered over the table Jounouchi looked back and forth between his two friends. "If Atemu was in love with you when you guys shared a body, then you must've totally seen him naked and stuff, right Atemu? I mean, you could have been really perverted if you wanted to and seen him showering and stuff, right?"

Before Atemu could even begin to form a response Yuugi was already standing up.

"Jounouchi! Stop asking such embarrassing questions! You might have done something like that but mou hitori no boku is a gentleman. So just get your mind out of the gutter." He picked up the tea tray and walked through a swinging door into the kitchen, redder than a tomato. A red that showed even on the back of his neck as he left the other two behind.

"So," Jounouchi turned his attention back to his other friend, who was looking a little pink and shame-faced himself. "How often were you a 'gentleman' Atemu?"

The blush in Atemu's cheeks darkened a little and he coughed. Leaning forward and dropping his voice he said, "About sixty-seven percent of the time."

Both men winced when a loud call came from the other side of the kitchen door. "I heard that!"

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I appreciate reviews.<strong>


	40. Role Reversal

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! And I apologize, this is a rather overdone scenario but what can you do? And sometimes it's fun to do the overdone from your own perspective. That being said I hope y'all enjoy!**

**And really, thank you all for reading and for the faves and reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them and without you guys to read who would I be writing these things for?**

**I hope you enjoy and I appreciate any comments you have. Thanks, enjoy!**

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><p>40. Role Reversal<p>

Jounouchi Katsuya had always thought Yami Yuugi was a fairly normal guy. Well, of course he was cooler than most and had some of the strangest hair, not to mention those eyes, anyone had ever seen, but that aside all in all a pretty everyday guy. From the day they'd started their great friendship he had felt so and still did. Or had.

Right up until about thirty seconds ago.

Jounouchi Katsuya blinked once. Then twice. Then he stuck out his tongue in concentration while he jammed his pinky fingers in each of his ears and twisting them roughly to dislodge any possible wax. When he was done with that he shook his head side to side and slapped his palms twice against each ear to get rid of anything still stuck inside. And then, finally satisfied, he looked back to his ever increasingly irritated friend and asked, "Sorry Yami, what was that?"

With pink high in his pale cheeks the shorter teen answered with a tensed jaw. "I. Said. Jounouchi. There's. A. Spirit. Haunting. Me."

Once again Jounouchi shook his head and stared blankly at his best friend. "Sorry, what?"

The bright pink flushed to a dark, angry red. "Jounouchi!" Yami cried, with fists clenched in what was most certainly both humiliation and rage.

For a moment Jounouchi prepared himself to raise his hands to block the possible oncoming blow from his haughty, volatile friend, but with some surprise he watched as the slighter young man took several deep breaths before releasing his fists and dropping his hands to his side before continuing. "Like I said Jounouchi, there's been a spirit following me for some time now. He comes from this." He pointed down at the large pyramid pendant he held in one hand from the chain it hung from about his neck.

"The weird puzzle thing your grandpa gave you?" Jounouchi scratched his head bemusedly as he asked.

Yami nodded with a hum of agreement.

"So, what, is it like an evil spirit or something?" The blond teen raised his hands like a 'ghost', making 'oooh' sounds before abruptly letting out a pitiful whimper. "Yami, that's so creepy! You're freaking me out!"

Yami rolled his eyes and snorted. "No. He's nothing like that. He's...nice." He glanced away.

"Oi, but how can you know for sure Yami?" Jounouchi frowned in thought, arms crossed against his chest. "I mean, he could be like one of those spirits from those movies, right? He could, like, turn evil and possess you and then kill everyone!"

Yami raised one disbelieving eyebrow as the rest of his cool visage turned to utter stone. "I think you've been watching too many horror movies Jounouchi." Then a wickedly impish light came into his eyes and he smirked as he cast a teasing gaze over his shoulder. "Besides, I doubt he could do any harm to anyone. He's more likely to _get_ possessed than possess anybody."

Jounouchi watched with curiosity, and some concern, as Yami winced suddenly and uttered, "Sorry, sorry aibou," looking back over his shoulder to some unseen thing.

Jounouchi's mouth opened and hung like that for a minute. There were so many questions to ask. Especially as Yami now seemed to be in a full, whispered, conversation with this 'aibou', which had come to include lots of lighthearted chuckles and disturbingly tender looks from his friend- even more so when it looked like he was directing them at a wall.

"Sorry aibou, but it's just too much fun when you blush so easily." Yami laughed with another look at the wall.

Jounouchi snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. There were some things he was better off not knowing.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I appreciate your reviews and feedback!<strong>


	41. Elevator

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! **

**Grumble grumble, I just had this whole friggin' thing written out in here before effed it up and erased it...so I'm grouchy now...and tired...and I have work and start a summer class tomorrow (boo!). Bleh, anyway, here is a follow up to "language" since some ppl asked for one. **

**As always thanks everyone for reading and reviewing and faving and alerting. You guys are awesome and give me the confidence to write more of these for you! I appreciate everything you guys do and I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy and review! **

**As with Language there will be translations at the end. Enjoy and thanks for reading!**

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><p>41. Elevator (follow up to "Language")<p>

"_Habiibi"_

The word had been stuck in Yuugi's head all last night. And the day before that. And the day before that. And the evening before that. _"Habiibi"_. Why, of all days, did that Egyptian tease of a man have to use such a word on a Friday? Why not a Monday, or a Tuesday? At least then Yuugi wouldn't have had to spend the last seventy-two hours obsessing over that one word, from the time he'd looked it up in his dictionary to this very moment, standing in front of the metal doors of the elevator waiting to bring him fourteen stories to the man who reduced him to a schoolgirl with one look.

What was he supposed to say back? What was he supposed to say when he saw Atemu? _"Ohayou gozaimasu koibito, o genki desu ka?"_ But what if he'd misheard? He'd spent a good amount of time this weekend nervously pouring over a now dog-eared section of his Arabic-Japanese dictionary; there were a lot of words he could have mistaken "_habiibi_" for.

It'd been especially disheartening to find the word "_heba_". It was a fairly literal translation of his own name from Japanese to Arabic, it wasn't a far stretch to assume that Atemu had stumbled upon it in a Japanese-Arabic dictionary.

But then, why would the handsome Middle-Eastern god be looking up his name in a dictionary in the first place?

Still he had a feeling it wouldn't go over too well if Atemu had called him the latter and he went with the former. That could be awkward to say the least.

Not only awkward, but Yuugi was fairly certain it put any chance he had of bringing his fantasies of candlelit dinners and after hours conversations, as well as a few others, completely to rest.

And then of course there was the possibility that what Yuugi thought was flirting was just normal behavior in Egypt and if he said anything Atemu would be not only shocked, but disgusted as well.

Images flooded Yuugi's head just as they had since Friday evening: Atemu's lips curled and his burgundy eyes glaring, Atemu retracting his slender, tan hand and wiping it as though he'd been infected with some terrible disease.

Yuugi's thumb went to his lips as he discretely bit on the edge of the tiny nail that remained after his weekend of self-doubts and nervous internal debates.

He _could _try to play it cool, but Yuugi had a feeling that wasn't going to work out too well for him. He'd last about one second into one of Atemu's sultry smiles before melting into a pile of goo on the floor. If Atemu so much as placed a friendly hand on his shoulders after one of his sexy little walk-by's he'd probably blurt out something like "Take me, I'm yours!" before he could keep his mouth shut. That would go over poorly in all kinds of ways...he really didn't want to be on the wrong end of a sexual harassment lawsuit.

And the chance of Atemu walking by was almost a sure thing; despite undoubtedly having a number of people who would be willing to run small errands or fetch things for him, admittedly Yuugi could easily be included in that group, Atemu's daily trips past Yuugi's cubicle had only increased since he had started working there. Which, of course, wasn't really a bad thing. Well, it wouldn't have been if he could get any work done competently with Atemu around, and if he didn't have to hear the sighs and giggles of any female within a ten foot radius.

Either the man was completely oblivious or he was trying to push Yuugi toward some kind of nervous breakdown.

If that was his plan he was very close to succeeding.

Yuugi closed his eyes. As soon as he did he could see Atemu standing there just like he had the last time. _"Habiibi."_ Yuugi sighed and reveled in the sweet sensuality of that one word, that one voice, cushioning his heart as it fell at Atemu's feet. How would it be to hear Atemu speak his name like that, his voice slowly caressing each syllable like a lover's touch? _"Yuugi."_

He shivered. It was beyond good.

Though the ground floor lobby was probably not the place for such fantasies.

Yuugi pursed his lips for a second. Well, _one_ more couldn't hurt. Just one more indulgence before he faced his fears and the likely scenario that his fantasies were nothing more than that.

"_Yuugi."_ He'd been going for _"Habiibi" _but alright, though he should probably lay off anything sentimental for some time, he could have sworn he actually heard Atemu's voice that time.

"_Yuugi."_ There it was again. And now there was a hand on his shoulder. "Yuugi."

Shimatta.

Yuugi opened his eyes to see a hand tentatively touching his left shoulder and turned to see Atemu standing very close to him, a concerned frown settled on his handsome face.

The Egyptian god squeezed his shoulder gently. "Yuugi, hal anta bikhair?"

Guessing from the look Atemu was giving him, and the fact that he'd probably been trying to get Yuugi's attention while he'd stood there with his eyes closed, no doubt looking like he was in some trance, he thought it would be fair to guess the translation would be, _"Daijoubu desu ka?"_

"Oh, um, Atemu-kun, ohayou. Hai, daijoubu. Sumimasen."

"La moshkelah." Yuugi swallowed. Hard. Were words like that supposed to sound that sensual? And why was Atemu leaning in a little closer?

A soft _ding!_ echoed behind them. Yuugi turned as the elevator doors slid open. He turned back to Atemu's still close face, and those eyes slightly lidded and redder than usual.

"Oh, um, osaki ni dozo Atemu-kun." He gestured to the empty elevator car.

Atemu pulled back and, Yuugi could have sworn, damn _sauntered_ into the elevator. Yuugi nearly bit a hole in his lip reminding himself that it was extremely rude to stare at your coworker's backside. He tried his best to look innocent when he followed Atemu in, but the bright blush staining his face wasn't helping...and neither was his guilt-laden walk of shame.

The elevator doors shut as Yuugi stood by Atemu's side, his face turned to keep his redness from showing. Of course that meant that he missed Atemu's increasingly wicked smirk.

Had Yuugi been looking he might not have been so startled when the elevator slammed to a sudden halt.

He stumbled for a second while he struggled to regain his balance; when he turned to ask Atemu if he was alright he saw the man's tanned fist against the giant, red, clearly marked, "EMERGENCY" button.

"A-Atemu?"

"Yuugi." Atemu approached him with the sangfroid confidence Yuugi had become so accustomed to seeing, shoulders back and a purpose in his stride, visible even in the short distance he crossed. There was something unnameable in his eyes lurking just below the bright and shining surface, something that sent electrifying tremors along Yuugi's skin as his heart raced.

"Yuugi," he repeated. Atemu stopped with their shoes only inches apart, their bodies nearly touching. Yuugi could feel the heat radiating between them.

No matter what customs they might have had in Egypt, he was certain that this was closer than men normally stood to their coworkers.

"Habiibi." One tanned hand raised close to Yuugi's cheek, stopping when the knuckles just barely brushed the flushed skin.

Yuugi's lungs seized; the tremors along his skin grew to a full shiver. And Atemu's sensuous face fell into a uncertain frown. The sienna fingers began to curl in, ready to draw away.

The sweet anxiety building within was quickly drowned by a new, agonizing panic. Atemu was about to interpret Yuugi's body language all wrong; how could he get his message across before everything got even messier and more confusing?

Atemu's fingers were already beginning to pull back. Despite the limited choice of vocabulary he was going to have to make do.

"Koibito."

Atemu was still frowning, but his hand had paused in retreat. Was Atemu wondering what he had said or why he had said it? It was hard to tell exactly.

"Um, Atemu-kun," Hopefully he would understand. "Suki desu." Yuugi forced himself to hold Atemu's gaze, despite the near painful heat he felt in his face.

Atemu was still watching as though unclear or unsure, his fingers hanging awkwardly in the air, his body still close but poised to step away.

A hard lump formed in Yuugi's throat; it wasn't at all like him, and definitely not his first choice, really, but there was one sure way to get his meaning across to Atemu.

Before Yuugi could rethink his decision he squeezed his eyes shut tight and closed the small space between them.

The kiss wasn't really a kiss. Certainly it wasn't the passionate, fireworks, melt-you-to-the-core, kind of kiss, really it was just a dry pressing of lips together, but to Yuugi, it was everything. His heart was pounding, his knees were shaking, and there was a ringing in his ears that wouldn't stop.

And there also didn't seem to be any response.

Both stiff and feeling rather faint Yuugi readied to step back. Had he misinterpreted everything? How could he have? Had he maybe overstepped a boundary too quickly?

As soon as Yuugi's lips left Atemu's they were suddenly reattached, this time when Atemu wrapped his arms around Yuugi's waist and pulled their bodies together. The kiss was again brief, interrupted when Atemu moved his lips next to Yuugi's ear and whispered, "Habiibi. Koibito."

He moved his head back just enough to look Yuugi in the eye, but kept the Japanese man firmly in his arms. Yuugi nodded back and repeated, "Koibito. Habiibi."

When Atemu moved his lips back to Yuugi's it was soft and wet; he tilted his head as their mouths pressed together, slowly opening his lips and gently parting Yuugi's with his tongue.

This was a proper kiss, a fireworks, melt-you-to-a-pitiful-puddle kiss. It was a kiss that lasted until both men broke apart for the sake of putting air into their starved lungs, and stayed apart only long enough for Atemu to restart the elevator car, not bringing it up to the fourteenth floor, but down to the ground floor lobby.

When the doors opened Atemu stepped out quickly past the workers waiting to get on board, eying both flushed men with both ire and curiosity. For a moment Yuugi hesitated and called out, "Atemu?"

Atemu turned back to him and waved toward his side. "Yuugi," he called back with a wide grin.

That was all it took for Yuugi to rush out of the elevator car to join him and they took off like a pair of teenagers, practically racing each other out of the lobby and into the street. Atemu was still grinning at him as he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number to speak in quick, fluid Arabic. Yuugi pulled out his own phone as he followed Atemu, ready to make his own excuses to his boss as he trailed alongside this godlike figure.

Suddenly Atemu grabbed Yuugi's hand and pulled it into his own, raising it to his lips in a chaste kiss before releasing it with a wild kind of happiness dancing in his eyes.

Perhaps they didn't share the same vocabulary, but somehow Yuugi felt certain that they weren't going to have problem understanding each other after all.

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><p>Habiibi- lover<p>

Ohayou gozaimasu koibito, o genki desu ka?- Good morning lover, how are you?

heba- game (roughly? It gets used as an Arabic version of Yuugi so I'm going with it)

Shimatta- dammit

hal anta bikhair?- are you okay?

Daijoubu desu ka?- are you okay?

Ohayou. Hai daijoubu. Sumimasen.- Good morning. Yes, I'm fine. Excuse me. (Sumimasen is an 'excuse me' as a 'pardon me' or an apology for being rude, in this case for not listening etc)

La moshkelah- no problem

osaki ni dozo- after you (not sure if this is in the right context though)

koibito- lover

suki desu- I like you (also counts as an admission of love)

Thanks for reading and I hope you review! (Also I apologize for any wrongly done translations)


	42. Mystery

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! So tired, but anyway...this is a follow up to "Introduction"- once again b/c ppl asked for one...there will probably be two more following this one as well. So yeah I hope you guys enjoy this follow up and I want to thank you all again for reading and reviewing and for all the faves and such. I really appreciate them and it really does encourage the writing thing, boost of confidence and all.**

**Thanks for reading guys, you're all awesome and I hope you enjoy and I appreciate your feedback! **

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><p>42. Mystery (follow up to "Introduction" Pt. 2)<p>

Today, of all days, Yami was quite happy about Tokyo's crammed railway system. So far he'd been pushed, shoved, had his foot trampled, hit, and fallen into, but still, all-in-all he was happy. Very happy actually.

Though that probably had something to do with the young man whose hands seemed to be glued to his hips and whom he had his hand pressed rather intimately to the small of his back. This wonderful stranger didn't seem to realize that he was crushing Yami's foot or that a bruise shaped in the outline of a book bag handle was forming in his side, but a few bruises and mangled toes were sacrifices Yami was willing to make, especially when it meant saving this adorably bashful creature from bumping into less kind passengers.

"Maybe you should just stick to this train, and I'll make sure to look out for you. My name is Yami." He kept his voice low in the young man's ear and smirked when he felt the hitch in the stranger's breath.

"I-I'm Yuugi." Spoken barely loud enough for Yami to hear, but such a sweet name from such an innocently alluring voice. Normally he believed in forging one's own fate, but this lucky coincidence had to be some inkling of destiny.

Unfortunately for Yami his brush with divinity didn't seem to find the circumstances nearly as opportunistic. "I think-," the young man shifted in Yami's hold and the smirk turned to a frown. Maybe he had been too forward, this young man was obviously a shy kind of guy and, despite what he might have protested, naïve to more than just Tokyo public transit.

Maybe, he decided, he should apologize before he scared him away entirely. He opened his mouth and tried to figure out how to slip his hand into an less awkward position in the small space allowed when Yuugi spoke in an entirely different voice.

"I think I just missed my stop."

Yami raised his head away from Yuugi's ear just in time to watch as the train car began to pass the edge of the station platform. "Damn it, I'm gonna be so late." Yami's hand retreated to his former firm hold on Yuugi's back, where his thumb absentmindedly rubbed in a soothing motion. Once again he bent his head to speak directly into Yuugi's ear, who shivered when his breath tickled the fine hair below his temple.

"Hey, don't worry Yuugi. Get off at my stop with me, I can give you a ride to your school." He spoke comfortingly and sweetly authoritatively. "Which university do you go to?"

"N-no, r-really, I couldn't. I'll just get off at the next stop and-"

"Will you even know where you're going? I promise I can get you wherever you need to be in thirty minutes at most." Half of his words were drowned out by the train as it slowed to a stop and the doors opened wide, the station noise pouring into the small space.

"No, really," Yuugi was detaching himself, his hands already off Yami's sides as he began to slip from his grip.

Yami wasn't prepared to lose him so easily. He grabbed onto the edge of Yuugi's bag as he stepped back. "Wait, Yuugi-"

Someone from the other side bumped into Yuugi, pushing him forward and out the door with the other passengers, all the while with him looking back with utter horror until the doors slid shut and the train was off again. "Yuugi!" Yami called, but it was too late. 'His' little Yuugi was already long gone.

Well, mostly. When Yami looked down he knew quite well the reason for Yuugi's dismal expression as he was shoved from the train; still in Yami's hand was Yuugi's book bag, clutched in his firm grip. Now there was only one option.

When the train stopped at the next station Yami gracefully pushed his way through the burgeoning stampede and coolly exited to the street. While he walked toward a quieter place where he could sit down for a minute he pulled his cellphone from his pants' pocket and pressed the first button on his speed dial list.

"Mokuba, I'm going to be late...What should you tell Seto?" He paused momentarily. "Tell Kaiba Rhodopis lost his slipper."

"_What? Yami, what are you-"_ Yami ended the call with a tap of his finger and slid the phone back into his pocket.

As he reached a tiny, quiet park, just a little inlet beside the bustling sidewalk, Yami found an empty bench and sat down. Gently he placed the book bag on his lap, unbuckled the fastened buckles, flipped open the protective flap, and smoothly unzipped the closed top.

"Now, my mysterious little Rhodopis," he muttered as his fingers tenderly skimmed the edges of binders and textbooks, "will you give me a clue to find you?"

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><p>FYI- Rhodopis is the name of 'Cinderella' in what appears to be the original version of the Cinderella story (it comes from ancient Egypt and involves a Greek slave losing her beautiful slipper as a hawk (the sign of Horus) carries it off and drops it in front of Pharaoh, who takes it as a sign and finds the owner and then makes her his queen).<p>

Thanks for reading and see you soon!


	43. Fashion

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh! I would like to say how much I appreciate all you reading and your reviews, I hope to have your continued interest and feedback.**

**On a side note, part of the reason that it has taken so long for an update (long for a 'drabble' series at least) has been because I've had several "Aha!" inspired moments, but as soon as I start writing these...they become 7 pg long stories...which is faaar too long for this series. On the plus side, however, if you enjoying reading my stuff it means that there are at least two one-shots coming hopefully soon, one of which will be based on the drabble below. **

**I hope you enjoy and please review.**

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><p>43. Fashion<p>

It was only after the class reluctantly left the hot springs and changed into the provided yukata that Yami no Yuugi decided to make an appearance.

After Yuugi had properly tied his obi he slipped out of sight for a second and pulled the Sennen Puzzle back over his head.

"I know mou hitori no boku doesn't like being separated like that," he muttered to himself, "I hope isn't too upset."

As soon as the puzzle landed against his chest a transparent apparition was standing at his side, slightly turned away.

"Sorry about that mou hitori no boku," Yuugi apologized before his dark half could even say a word. "You're not allowed to wear anything in the hot springs themselves so I had to take off the puzzle. I hope you're not mad."

With a reluctant ghostly sigh the spirit answered. _"It's okay aibou. As long as you're alright, it's fine." _He turned and lifted his head with a smile. _"So, did you have fun ai-"_

Suddenly the dark apparition stopped, one transparent hand quickly rose to cover his mouth.

"Mou hitori no boku are you okay?" Anxiety clearly colored Yuugi's words.

"_F-fine aibou. W-what is that you're wearing?"_

Obviously thrown by the question, Yuugi blinked before replying. "This? Oh, it's a yukata, a summer kimono. You also wear them after you get out of the hot springs. Are you sure you're okay mou hitori no boku? You look...kind of red...and the puzzle feels really warm. I don't know if you could have a fever if I don't have one, but are you feeling alright?"

"_Y-yes, just fine aibou. You-you should go back and join the others."_

"Mou hitori no boku-"

"Yuugi, come on! You're gonna miss the food!"

Without another word the spirit vanished and Yuugi found himself being dragged by the hand behind Jounouchi. Though his darker half didn't appear again, the puzzle felt very warm against his skin for the rest of their trip.

And Yuugi was quite confused when, several days after their return, his 'mou hitori no boku' appeared at his side, ignored his greeting, studied him for a long minute as he unbuttoned his uniform jacket and declared, with the utmost seriousness..._ "Aibou, I think...I'm very interested in traditional Japanese style."_

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and I appreciate your feedback.<strong>

Just a few notes for anyone who is confused...

A yukata is a light kimono (as explained above) both used for hot weather and for post-bathing and are frequently seen at onsen (at least from my research into it) (an onsen is a hot spring or hot spring resort-type place)

Japanese high schools tend to have a class trip somewhere...Yuugi's class went to an onsen.

(In case I really failed at explaining) Yami was all flustered and blushing b/c he thought Yuugi was abso-friggin'-lutely adorable in his yukata (hence his newfound interest in traditional Japanese fashion) (btw this is also a common trope in BL (boy's love) manga...so I can't really claim originality here)


	44. Phone Call

**AN: Shortness, like actual drabble length this time. I don't own Yu Gi Oh! I thank you for reading, and I appreciate your faves and reviews very much. I hope you enjoy this and I hope you can give me some feedback. Hopefully we'll have some more done shortly, but there are a few one-shots that got inspired by these (partially the one below) that will be longer stories on their own b/c they became too long for this series. Enjoy!**

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><p>44. Phone Call<p>

In the end it really didn't matter.

If Yuugi called at 2 AM.

Or if he was with Anzu.

And when he had homework piling up to the ceiling.

If he was out.

Or it was raining.

Or snowing.

All Yuugi had to do was call and say, "Hey Yami..."

"...can you help me study?"

or

"...what are you doing right now?"

or

"...I miss you."

or

"...wanna grab something to eat?"

or

"...I was thinking about you."

Each and every time all Yami heard was "Hey Yami..._I need you._"

And each and every he would drop everything and run to Yuugi's side.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and I appreciate your feedback.<strong>


	45. Honorifics

**AN: I have a 4 pg paper due at 6 and 84 pgs to read...haven't started either so of course I'm writing fanfiction...makes perfect sense. Blarg.**

**Anyway, Yu Gi Oh! isn't mine. And as always thank you for all your kind words and faves. My brain is a little shot at the moment, but on the next chap I'm gonna go through the reviews I can't thank via PM and thank y'all.**

**This was a quickie. Hope you enjoy and review!**

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><p>45. Honorifics<p>

"Jounouchi-_kun_, Honda-_kun_, Anzu-_chan..._Aibou, could you explain the honorific terms to me?"

"Well, mou hitori no boku, -kun is for guys you're friendly with, -san is more respectful, -sama is the most respectful one, and -chan is for girls you're friends with."

"Don't you call your grandfather Jii_-chan_ though?"

"Yeah, but -chan can also be used with anyone you're really, really close to, but only like family. If you just use it for guys normally it could be really insulting, cause girls also use it with their boyfriends sometimes or to describe something cute."

"Why doesn't anyone use -_kun_ with you aibou?"

"I don't know mou hitori no boku. I guess because everyone calls me by my first name? It would probably seem too intimate."

"Why do they call you by your first name? Don't they only do that with Anzu?"

"Well, um, I don't...know mou hitori no boku..."

"...Hmm..."

"..."

"...Maybe...it's because you're too cute aibou."

"What? M-mou hi-hitori no boku?"

"Yes, that must be it. You are too cute so they have to call you by your first name, it makes sense."

"Uh, I, well..."

"Aibou...do you think we should add -_chan_ to your name?"

"Mou hitori no boku!"

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><p><strong>Thanks again for reading!<strong>


	46. Rain

**AN: Hey guys, another shortie but a sweetie (or something like that) I've been in no mood to post sad stuff (frankly there's enough real world sad stuff going on right now) so yay for the fluff. I don't own Yu Gi Oh! btw **

**As always thank you all for the reviews and faves (and here's hoping for more!) I love it when you guys take the time to give me some feedback (it's excellent encouragement) so I appreciate reviews very very much.**

**To the ppl who reviewed that I can't PM thank:**

**lbrylady (42): I actually didn't know that! That's really interesting, thanks :) And thanks for the review! (haha I've actually become mildly obsessed with that story I think...it seems to be popping up a lot lately when I write)**

**Guest (42): Well there will be a follow up, and I'll possibly combine them into a separate story later on, but if I did it would almost certainly just be what was written here and not elaborated on. So far there's Introduction and Mystery and the follow-ups will most likely be Problem and Solution. Thank you!**

**Guest (22): Aw, thanks! I don't know if there will be a sequel or not, but I've got a semi-similar story in the works at the moment that was actually originally a prompt for here...and then became waaaay too long to be a chapter here! But I'll see if anything good pops into mind as a sequel for this too!**

**Really though, thank you all for your reviews, they make me very happy. I really am glad that you enjoy this story and fuel my hopes of actual authorship someday :) I hope you'll keep enjoying these and my other stories! Thanks!**

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><p>46. Rain<p>

For some reason, whenever it rains I have the urge to call you and ask, "Hey, wanna go play outside with me?" and because it's you I do, and I never care about how childish or stupid it sounds.

But you don't really like the rain, so you'll laugh and say, "Yami, it's raining outside." I'll pretend I forgot, or didn't know, even though we both know I didn't and I did, and we'll usually end up at your house, sitting on your couch or your bed, playing video games or watching TV.

It's been going on for years. I don't really know why.

Today it must have started raining long before I woke up; there are already larges puddles littering the pavement and sizable streams leading into sewage grates. It's one of those hard spring rains: thick, heavy drops that fall straight down without the assistance of any wind to guide them, and still too early in the season to think of discarding jackets even in the best weather.

It was a total downpour when I looked out the window, so when I called today and asked that same question and you laughed that same, musical laugh, I wasn't expecting you to say, "Sure, why not. Where do you want to meet?"

And now I'm standing under a tree in the park down the street from my apartment building, holding an umbrella above my head with one hand and the other shoved into my coat pocket. My breath is coming out in steamy puffs in front of my face. My fingerless leather gloves aren't keeping the freezing numbness out of my exposed digits. I feel kind of like a complete ass. And my heart is beating faster.

Through the obscured curtain of rainfall a blurred figure comes running in my direction and suddenly there you are, jogging with your jacket pulled up to cover your head in the middle of the deserted sidewalk. You, the one who's always so prepared and cautious and hates the rain.

When you reach me you're red-faced and breathless and entirely drenched. I move to cover you with the umbrella, standing close to keep us both dry. My heart beats even faster.

"Yuugi, you're going to get sick like that, where's your umbrella? Here. Take my jacket."

While I try to maneuver you laugh, and the rain frames your voice like tinkling bells. "No, it's fine Yami. So, what did you want to play?"

To be honest I didn't plan this far ahead; I wasn't expecting you to do this with me.

"I don't know...what do _you _want to play?" For the first time I feel awkward around you; you've thrown me off-balance Yuugi Mutou.

But you don't seem affected. You seem oddly self-assured today, more confident, laughing and smiling so beautifully even as you're apple-cheeked and water turns your hair into heavy chunks that stick to your face. You're so lovely Yuugi and you don't even know it.

"How about tag?"

"Tag? Sure."

You take one step forward, then another. My heart is pounding violently as your arms sweep up and lock around the back of my neck. Your feet arch so slightly as you pull my head down and lift yours up. Our lips press softly together under the privacy of the umbrella.

It's pouring out, and chilly, and you're soaked through all your clothing undoubtedly, so you should be cold, but you're so tantalizingly warm, almost burning. I'm shivering and shaking so badly, but I don't feel anything other than your heat flooding me.

My grip loosens on the umbrella handle, but before it can fall to the side you gently release me and take a slow step back. My lips tingle where yours just were. I don't know what to say.

Then you look up at me with those pure eyes in that limpid gaze of yours and quietly say, "Tag. You're 'it'." With a laugh you turn and tear off running deeper into the park without the safety of my umbrella under the spring monsoon. I don't hesitate to drop my umbrella to the ground and chase after you, following in search of the melodic sounds of your frivolity, hidden under the rainfall that surrounds us.

I will catch you Yuugi. I will chase you forever and catch you again and again, just so I can tag you with kisses until you know you're 'It', and will be every day, for the rest of my life.

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><p><strong>Long-winded intro was long...Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and please review :)<strong>


	47. Illusion

**AN: Hey, I don't own Yu Gi Oh! (does that even really need to be said? I think it's pretty self-evident :P) **

**As always, thank you everyone for reading and reviewing and faving and following and generally being awesome and amazing! There are several of you I have to PM to thank, but, I apologize, I'm running behind as this week has been constantly either working or at school or studying or paper writing. **

**Anyway, thank you all so much and I appreciate your continued interest and feedback! Onto the fic b/c I'm very tired.**

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><p>47. Illusion<p>

Through the window a few stray beams of artificial light have found their way in, landing upon your face as you shift and roll over in your sleep. For a few brief moments I can study you under the light: your pleasant, slack face, your placid brow, free of worry and concern as you usually seem so fraught with. But all too soon the spell is broken and the consciousness lying beneath your dreaming mind becomes aware of an attempted intrusion; you wrinkle your nose and grimace with a grunt before rolling on your side, away from me. Though I know it's merely a physical reaction to the light, for a second I imagine that you somehow know I'm watching you. Maybe that's just my wishful thinking.

It has become habit, this. I suppose I could pass this time resting, but my body is an illusion, I have no real need for sleep. And I have spent far too long resting in that twisted maze known as my "soul room". So you sleep and I watch, sitting at your bedside or in a chair, leaning against your wall or desk.

It's strange: even though my being is only a spiritual remainder I act as though it still had substance, as though it had weight and force. Even as I form these very thoughts I'm sitting on the edge of your bed, with my legs crossed and my chin resting in the palm of my hand, despite the fact that there is no sensation in this "body" of mine, no physical fatigue that demands this position. It is all one more painful reminder that I cannot touch or feel anything in this state.

What I wouldn't give to touch you aibou. If I would give my memories just to stay with you, to touch you I would give up everything. I would stay in my haunted soul room the rest of my endless days to touch you, to feel the softness of your hair against the webs of my fingers, to know the sensation of my forehead to yours, cheek-to-cheek and palm-to-palm.

I want to pull you to me when you cry and cushion you when you fall. How many times have I held your hand emptily? Or touched your shoulders with transparent limbs? I want to repeat every touch I have ever given you, just to savor each instant in its fullest.

And every night, as I sit and watch you, I can pretend for a moment that it's possible. I imagine I could know, would know, exactly what it meant to touch you if only I reached out. Even to feel the soft cotton of your T-shirt would be like a heavenly embrace for me aibou, even if only for just a fleeting second.

It is so tantalizing, so tempting, that I begin to imagine I can feel your bedspread under me and your school uniform against my skin. And before I can rationalize it, before I can stop myself, I reach out to touch you.

My hand lands on your side, but you never stir, and I cannot feel the blankets that cover you beneath my fingertips. Though you breathe steadily in and out my hand never rises or falls in time. Despite never feeling it, when I slowly retract my hand it feels like I've been burned.

Once more I sit alone in the darkness as you rest without even the slightest shiver in recognition of my touch, evidence of that same lesson I learn each night and always fail to retain.

Oh my dearest aibou, someday I fear you too will learn that, unfortunately, some illusions are best left unbroken.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading, I appreciate your feedback!<strong>


	48. Problem

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

**Thank you all for reading and reviewing! This is a silly little one (I had to make up for the melancholy last one!) and was done fairly quickly, so I apologize if it's not that entertaining. **

**Haha, b/c I almost forgot...**

**A few notes that may help with this drabble: -senpai is an honorific term (used as a suffix or just on its own) to refer to someone of senior status (such as a senior student or senior coworker, etc). Also, in Japan middle school (lower secondary school) tends to be grades 7-9 and high school (upper secondary school) grades 10-12, which is why a first year would be in grade 10 and a third year would be a senior (in most U.S. high schools a senior would be in their 4th year of high school so I thought it best to explain for American readers, I won't pretend to know what other country's school systems are like).**

**Thank you again for reading and all your support! I hope you enjoy!**

**8/2/12: EDIT: TexasDreamer01 pointed out that I repeated 'head' in a sentence, which was supposed to be 'hand'; this is now fixed. (And since I actually read over this no less than five times there was much cursing on this end when I was alerted to and found the error. This is the problem with writing, editing, and posting in the same session- your eyes see what you intended to write more than what you actually wrote. Also, this is the problem with doing these three things during an incredibly difficult several week period.) I apologize for the error.**

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><p>48. Problem<p>

Hi.

My name is Mutou Yuugi, and I have a problem.

That problem also has a name: Yami Atemu.

You see, I've had a crush on him pretty much since I first saw him at the start of the school year. That by itself isn't so weird, he's a third year and lots of guys from the younger grades have a 'crush' on him—they call it the 'Yami-senpai Syndrome'—I'm a first year, so I could have chalked it up to the same thing at first. Of course, what's different about my crush is that I probably have more locker-room scenario fantasies than the other guys do.

So, that's my problem, right? Poor Mutou Yuugi, first year student, has a huge crush on super hot, super cool, and probably super hetero, senior student Yami Atemu.

Wrong. That's not my problem.

My problem is that super hot, super cool, and questionably super hetero, third-year Yami Atemu won't stop staring at me.

"_But Yuugi, I thought you had a crush on him?"_ That's what you're thinking, right?

Well, I do, and I'd be happy if I thought he was flirting with me, but it's not like that. The fact is that I have no idea why he keeps staring at me. He's always just looking away when I pick my head up, and I think he must think I haven't realized it yet. It's actually a little creepy to be honest, feeling his eyes on me all the time and never knowing what he's thinking.

At first it kind of made sense. You see, a while ago he went on a few dates with my friend and classmate Mazaki Anzu. They went to the movies and he took her to a festival or something, so, when I noticed he was staring at _me_, I thought he was jealous maybe, keeping an eye on me in case I tried to make a move on Anzu. He didn't know that she was _my_ competition rather than me being _his_. So maybe it made me a little irritated and melancholy (okay, okay, maybe more than a little), but I grinned and bore it.

It was when they stopped seeing each other that it got a little confusing.

Anzu was pretty disappointed that it didn't work out, but she said that they ended it on good terms and better to do it now before they got into a real relationship. So I did the 'friend thing' and let her talk and offered her my sympathy, tried to remember that it was horrible to feel even the slightest hope at their non-relationship's end, and assumed that once again my Yami Atemu worshiping would be from afar.

So why this staring problem of his has only increased is completely beyond me!

But recently I've started using a new tactic. I call it 'Keeping My Head Down So Hopefully He Doesn't Notice Me'.

Today I'm employing my ingenious plan again as I march through the school courtyard toward class. I've decided to take a side entrance, because one thing I've quickly realized about my ingenious plan is that it doesn't really let me see what's in front of me and, of course, this would be the time I'd run into somebody or something like that.

Unfortunately my theory is proved correct right as my head hits someone's chest.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry-"

And just who do you think I see when I look up? None other than Yami Atemu, staring down at me with that unreadable expression.

"O-oh, Yami-senpai. I'm really sorry, I didn't see you there. Um, I'll just be going then."

I bow a little and step back, but as soon as I've got one foot behind me my wrist is grabbed.

"U-uh, Yami-senpai? Are-"

Before I can continue, in one swift move, Yami Atemu raises my hand above my head and pulls me towards him and puts his lips on mine.

Yes, that's right, Yami Atemu is kissing me.

And completely unprepared I'm just staring at his closed eyes like an idiot.

I think I have a whole new problem now.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed and I appreciate your feedback!<strong>


	49. Lurking

**AN: I don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

**I know I have plenty of you to personally thank for all your faves and alerts and reviews! (I apologize, my e-mail's being a jerk, so we're attempting and failing at the moment) But seriously guys, thanks for reading and for the reviews etc! I love them and I love you all for being awesome! I appreciate your continued reading and feedback and I hope you keep enjoying it!**

**-As hard as it may be to believe in a moment this was originally depressing.**

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><p>49. Lurking<p>

I didn't notice it until it was too late.

It had been there in the shadows this whole time: lurking, skulking, lying in wait for me.

So quietly, so quickly did it emerge from its hidden post where it had long stalked me.

The hairs on my arms raised, a tingling sensation prickled the back of my neck; I barely had time to breathe before I fell, my scream cut off by my attacker as he pounced on me.

And then it was all over: he was on top of me, grabbing at me with a maniacal grin ridiculously stretched across his face.

I was struck down, done for.

It was all I could do to barely choke out, "Ah! Haha! Ai-aibou! Hahaha! Stop! Haha! Tha-hahaha-that tickles!"

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><p><strong>The explanation for this silliness? It was written at about 2 AM...that's really the only reasoning I have. Well, hope you enjoyed the random silliness (yes, apparently Yuugi is an 'attack tickler'- some of you poor souls out there have probably been Yami at some point)<strong>

**So yeah, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed, I appreciate your feedback and I'll see ya soon!**


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